Poisoned Crystals
by Teller
Summary: ****COMPLETED****Sarah has defeated Jareth in the Labyrinth, but he shows up on the opening night of her school play. Strange, but that's okay, because he has no power over her... right? R/R!!!
1. Prologue: Lost Words of Power

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey hey! I don't know where this came from or where it's going, but I really wanted to write a Laby fic, so here it is! :) Obviously, I don't own the Labyrinth plot, theme, etc, or any of the associated characters, events, script, places, etc. Please don't sue! :) Oh, before I forget: you'll probably notice that I tried to use some of the lines from the movie here, but I don't own it and couldn't remember the right lines. If someone out there is in a benevolent and giving mood, would you care to send the correct words my way? I would really appreciate it!! Also, I'm looking for a beta reader. Any takers?

Thanks for reading this nonsense! Read it, review it, and most importantly, enjoy it!! 

~Teller

__

Poisoned Crystals: Prologue

"Lost Words of Power" 

Sarah tapped her foot impatiently as she flipped through the pages of an ancient book, looking for information on Serbia for her history paper. The librarian glared at her, and she slowly stopped tapping her foot. 

"Sorry," she whispered, a faint blush tinging her pale cheeks. The librarian looked away, and Sarah rolled her eyes. Her snobbish attitude reminded her vaguely of Jareth and his amazing pride . . . 

As her thoughts drifted to the Labyrinth, she felt something tap the toe of her shoe. Curious, she glanced down, and shrieked in fear and surprise. It was a clear, spherical crystal, the special kind Jareth favored. Her foot slammed into the crystal with a terrific kick, which flew across the room and hit a pyramid of the newest books, knocking all of them over. The librarian, clearly scandalized, slammed her book shut and stood, drawing all five foot three of her tiny stature up to its full potential. 

"Young lady, if you cannot control yourself I shall ask you to leave!" She hissed furiously, pointing at a sign that practically shouted 'QUIET.' Sarah flushed a brilliant scarlet and hurried to pick up all the books she had knocked over. The crystal shimmered in the light, and as she reached for it, the smooth surface glittered and turned into a copy of the book next to it. An all too familiar laugh sounded breath-takingly close to her ear, and she whipped around, looking for the Goblin King. He wasn't there, of course. Sarah shuddered and stacked all the books in the same pyramid it had been before her unfortunate aim had shattered it. "It's not fair, is it, Sarah?" His voice whispered huskily in her other ear. Her face quickly went from red to white as her back went rigid and her eyes widened, earning herself even more strange looks from passer-byes. She gathered her books and left the library, apologizing to the librarian once again as she left.

It had been three weeks since she had defeated Jareth, and every time she thought about the Labyrinth, one of those gods-cursed crystals had appeared. Today, aside from being her 16th birthday, was Halloween_ and_ the opening performance of the play (Labyrinth, of course), and she was dreading it. Of course, the director had said her performance had tripled in brilliance since the last practice they held in the park. It was after that practice -- Sarah had decided to stay and continue working on her lines -- that the owl had appeared and Jareth had turned Sarah's world upside down. She shook her head and walked in the front door.

"I'm home!" She called out. 

"Oh, good," Karen responded, walking into the living room. She was dressed to go out. "Sarah, I'm so sorry to do this to you, but I have to go out now. I scheduled a manicure for today with Cindy and I can't back out on her this time, I just can't. I should be back before you leave for dress rehearsal." Sarah opened her mouth, but bit back the words just before they flew from her throat. _It's not fair_, she thought, then shook herself. _I promised myself I wouldn't say -- even _think_ -- that anymore_, she thought furiously. 

Karen looked surprised at her lack of protest. "Is that alright?" Sarah controlled herself and forced a nod out of rigid neck muscles that were cording out in a fantastic effort not to scream in frusturation. It was her sixteenth birthday, for crying out loud, and what did this witch land her with? Surprise surprise, babysitting Toby . . . 

"I'll be watching Toby, then?" She asked calmly, unslinging her purse from her shoulder and putting it on a table nearby. Karen nodded.

"Yes, if that's alright with you." 

"Fine with me," Sarah said, walking into the kitchen. Karen, shocked, followed.

"You're sure?"

_"Yes,"_ Sarah said, irritation tinging her words just slightly. 

"Okay . . ." Karen said, picking up her jacket and purse. "I'll be back soon." Sarah nodded and pulled the orange juice out of the refridgerator. She poured herself a glass and went up to her room, pausing to check on Toby, who was napping in his crib. She couldn't stop herself from smiling faintly when she saw the way he clutched Lancelot, her old teddy bear, to his tiny chest. She ran a hand through his blonde curls and touched his cheek lightly.

_Even if the Labyrinth was like something from a nightmare, at least it helped me see how unfair I was to Toby_, she thought reluctantly. She hated acknowledging that Jareth had even done her a smidgeon of good. Toby stirred, and she pulled her hand away so she wouldn't wake him. 

_The babe with the power_, a voice echoed in her head. Sarah blinked. Where had that come from? The voice had sounded like Jareth's. She shook her head and left the room, rubbing her temples.

"A nap isn't such a bad idea," she said out loud, leaving her door open so she could hear Toby if she woke up. "Maybe I can learn the rest of my lines through osmosis." She picked up her script and shoved it under her pillow before collapsing on to her bed. Why was she so tired?

Sarah dreamed of crystals and poisoned peaches, of ferocious fairies and a laughing Jareth holding a squalling Toby up by the ankle. Suddenly a clock struck thirteen, and Toby shuddered and convulsed, then transformed into a goblin. Laughing madly, Jarieth hurled the goblin-Toby at her, who hit her in the stomach and bit her on the right hand, hard. Sarah screamed, and sat up, her heart pounding wildly. Her right hand still hurt. She looked at it and was mystified to see bite marks on her hand, small punctures that glittered and disappeared as she watched. She shook her head for the umpteenth time that day, and stood from her bed just as Karen rushed in.

"Sarah, darling, are you all right?" She asked, hurrying over to Sarah and patting her hair and arms anxiously. "I came home and you were in your bed, so I let you finsih your nap. What happened? A bad dream?" Sarah nodded mutely.

"I'm fine. It was just a nightmare," she said tiredly. Karen nodded, looking at her worriedly, but she turned and left the room. Sarah looked at her watch - 5:30 P.M. Dress rehearsal started at six. She pulled her script from under her pillow - "Stupid idea," she muttered to herself - and headed out the door to the theater. 

***

The audience applauded as Sarah rushed off stage to change into her ball gown for the hallucination scene. She pulled off her jeans and over-large blouse -- _did I ever find this attractive?_ she thought vaguely, tossing it on the floor as she reached for her elaborate dress. _It isn't nearly as pretty as the real one,_ she decided, smoothing the pink silk and fastening large fake diamond earrings to her ears and a huge faux diamond necklace around her neck. 

"On the contrary, I think the pink brings out lovely color in your cheeks," a mocking voice said from behind her. Sarah looked up in the mirror in shock. The goblin King lounged against the wall, a derisive smile playing about his lips. 

"Jareth?" She whispered. 

"Sarah, Sarah," he said, shaking his head mournfully. "If you didn't like that dress, why didn't you ask me for a different one?" 

"What are you doing here?" She asked, still whispering - whether from fear or surprise she didn't know. 

"Why, I've come to watch your performance, of course," he said, his derisive smile becoming even more cruel. "You liked the other dress better? Here," he snapped his fingers, and the voluminous, shimmering white gown appeared on the costume rack. "You were right. That one is much more . . . attractive . . . on you," he said, caressing her cheek gently. Sarah shuddered and looked away. "What is this?" Jareth mused in a whisper, his breath soft on her face. "Heartless Sarah, now mild and shy?" Sarah heard the laughter in his voice, and refused to let her temper burst. "What has happened to change you so from the determined young woman who got lost in my Labyrinth?" Sarah forced herself to meet his eyes. 

"I'm still determined," she said quietly, staring down the blue and green eyes that met her gaze steadily. "And I was never _lost_ in your horrible Labyrinth, for your information. As you may remember, I beat you. You still have no power over me." She reveled in the words, and felt her resolve build up as Jareth's look hardened. 

"Very well," he snapped, turning her face away roughly. "I can see you are still as selfish as ever." He stepped back, and Sarah bit her lip. How did he always make her feel so guilty? She hadn't done anything wrong! 

Jareth stopped at the door. 

"Wear the dress I've given you," he ordered. "Not that ugly thing they've given you," he said, a sneer on his face. He glanced at her necklace, and made a disgusted noice in the back of his throat. 

"_That_ will never do," he said spitefully, striding back over to her. He touched her neck, and the fake diamond necklace disappeared, another one taking it's place. Sarah turned to the mirror, and gasped in pleasure despite herself. It was almost a choker in style, with long, three inch beads encircling her neck, forcing her to keep her head up in a queenly posture. Delicate diamonds and opals shimmered in an upside-down triangle over her collarbones, accentuating her pale skin. Instead of the large, drop shaped diamond earrings that had previously burdened her ears, new, light-weight dangly eardrops graced her lobes. One of the long three-inch beads hung from her ears, a tiny opal burning brilliantly beneath it. 

"Why -" she asked, turning, but Jareth was gone. A slight frown brushed across her face as her eyes caught a white feather lying on the floor. The white dress beckoned to her from the clothes rack, and smiling in spite of herself, she donned it. 

_Perhaps he isn't so bad after all_, she found herself thinking as the costumes director skidded in through the door. He gasped at her appearance.

"Where did you get that?" He demanded. "It's absolutely magnificent!" 

"A - my grandmother gave it to me," she said, smiling mentally. What did the all mighty goblin King have to say to that? "She thought it fit my part." 

"It does, it does!" He exclaimed, hurrying forward. "Quickly, I have to dress your hair. The stage is being set as we speak." Sarah hurried to the vanity, and the director pondered her reflection. 

"The one we had set up before won't do with this dress. I'll have to try something else." Sarah nodded, and he came forward, bearing brush and comb. In moments her hair was styled, and when Sarah looked in the reflection, she gasped. It was the same as it had been during the peach-induced daydream! 

"Where did you get the idea for this?" She asked in awe, touching the silk ribbons that wound through her ebony hair. He shrugged, making sure a bobby pin was secure in the back of her head. 

"I don't know," he mumbled through a mouthful of comb. "It just sorta came to me." Sarah shook her head, and stood. 

"Thank you so much," She said. The director nodded, and she hurried backstage. 

The audience gasped as if they were one entity at her appearance on stage, and Sarah barely concealed a grin. She pushed through her fellow actors and actresses, allowing a confused look to possess her face. She looked around, and out of the corner of her eye saw _Jareth_ dancing with her friend, Leanna. She did a classic double take, but the second time she looked, he was no longer there. She frowned, but continued playing her part, looking for the actor who had been chosen to play the Goblin King. He was allright, but couldn't nearly hit the mocking tones Jareth seemed born to speak. 

There he was, watching her out of the corner of his eye as he was supposed to. She tried to get to him, but the actors played their parts well and blocked her from him. She felt a tap on her shoulder and found herself face to face with Jareth. She looked around -- Jason, the actor playing Jareth, was nowhere to be seen.

"What have you done with Jason?" She demanded in a hissing whisper. 

"The imposter?" he questioned, looking deeply amused and pleased with himself. "He never had this part, or so everyone except you now thinks." 

"Why not me?" 

"If you do not know, I shall not tell you," he said, frowning at her. "Just accept that it was always I who had this part, always I who rehearsed with you." Sarah blinked. He was trying to trick her -- echoes rang through her head. _'Love me, fear me, just do as I ask and I will be your slave,'_ her memory demanded. She almost broke away from him, but remembered they were onstage. 

"I will not accept that," she whispered furiously. "You have no power over me!" 

_No power over me . . . no power . . ._ the words sounded through her head. _I just have to know and remember that_, she thought determinedly, _and he won't be able to hurt me. _Jareth looked vaguely disappointed, but at the well practiced cue Sarah gave them, the dancers crowded them, seperating her from Jareth. She hurried stage right and picked up a chair, throwing it at the silver cloth that marked the boundaries of the 'crystal hallucination.' Backstage, someone broke a sheet of glass, and the silver cloth fell from the rafters as the lights went out. Sarah hurried to the wings to change back into her casual clothes. Jareth was in the dressing room.

"Damn you," he said. "Why do you resist me so?" 

"It must be in my nature," Sarah muttered, not surprised to see him. She picked up her clothes and stepped behind the screen, changing quickly into them. 

"Here's your dress," she said, flinging it at him. "I won't throw the jewels. Some terrified part of me tells me they're real." She unfastened them and hurried out. "Here." she pressed them into his palm. "I hope you've decided to restore Jason to his rightful place."

"He is in his rightful place," Jareth insisted. "The audience. He was never born to be an actor."

"And you were?" Sarah asked scornfully, pulling ribbons and bobby pins out of her hair as fast as she could.

"No," he said. "I was born to be a king. As you were born to be a queen." 

Sarah didn't like the implications of his words, so she quickly slipped her shoes on and hurried out the room. 

"I don't believe in destiny _or_ fate," she called imperiously over her shoulder, sprinting for stage. Jareth watched her go, a strange expression on his face.

Several scenes later, Sarah approached Jareth, a determined expression in her eyes as well as on her face. 

"Give me the child," she said firmly. Jareth backed away, holding a crystal. He began to play with it, spinning it around his knuckles and making it disappear beneath his hand to reappear above it. Sarah stared, transfixed by the reflected and refracted daggers of light that spun off of it's perfectly smooth surface.

_Don't!,_ A part of her mind shouted. _Don't watch! Look away! The crystal is poison!_

Sarah blinked, and tried to avert her gaze from the mystifying scene. She cleared her throat, and forced the lines out of stiff vocal cords.

"Give me the child . . . for I have come through the Labyrinth and made my way through the Goblin City. For my kingdom is as great . . ."

Suddenly Sarah's mind went blank. "For my kingdom is as great . . ." she murmured. Fear flooded her eyes. She couldn't remember the lines! Jareth's grin widened. Echoes rebounded off the inside of Sarah's mind, but she couldn't quite hear them. They were words of power . . . what kind of power? She struggled desperately against the spell, but it was like she had broken through a layer of ice in a pond and couldn't resurface through the thick layer of frozen water. She pounded against the mental barrier furiously, desperate to reach those whispers of magic. What were the words?_ Where_ were the words? 

_Love me, fear me, do as I ask and I will be your slave, _an imploring voice sought. Sarah shook her head and began to panic. Someone was hissing at her from the wings, but she couldn't hear them either. She was trapped, trapped in a world of Jareth's echoes and Jareth's crystals; why was Jareth all she could think about when she only needed the _right words_, **_what was happening_** --

-- Suddenly a clock ominously began to strike. Jareth began to laugh. _No_, Sarah thought desperately, what was she supposed to say? The final gong tolled, and it was like she had broken through a glass wall. The crystal Jareth held in his hand shattered, and the words returned to her. 

"You have no power over me," she whispered. Jareth continued laughing.

"Too late," he chuckled, narrowing his eyes at her. "You're too late!" Sarah shook her head. 

"You have no power over me!" She screamed. Jareth grabbed her hand in a viselike grip. 

"On the contrary, Sarah, you lost. I beat you, and now have power over you." She opened her mouth, and Jareth laid a gloved finger on her lips. "Now, now, Sarah," he whispered. "Don't tell me it isn't fair. Of course it isn't fair. Have I ever been fair to you?" He laughed and shook his head, stepping closer to her. "There's no reason I should start being fair now." Sarah pulled her head away, but found his grip on her wrist too strong for her to break. 

"I wasn't going to say it isn't fair," she said. "I was going to say you have no power over me, because you don't," she said, falsely confident. "I was also going to say.... Hoggle!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. "I need you! Ludo! Hoggle! Sir Didymus!" Jareth clamped a hand over her mouth forcefully. 

"Don't do anything stupid, Sarah," he warned her in a growl. A quiet sleepiness broke over her, and she nodded faintly. He held out the crystal to her, and it shimmered a thousand different colors. She reached out to it, and in a flash of white light, they disappeared. 

People in the audience stirred, and blinked. 

"Good show . . ." Someone murmured vaguely.

"Yes, excellent." Someone else responded in a muffled voice. One by one, people stood and filed out of the theater, rubbing their heads confusedly. What had just happened?


	2. Chapter One: Crystal-Clear Choices

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am SOOO SOO SOOO SORRY! This chapter took FOREVER for me to write out and finally get up; I've been suffering the worst attack of writer's block I have ever had! :-O This chapter is short and I promise another one, hopefully soon, but YES there will be a chapter three, and likely many more after that. So, read it, review it, and most importantly, enjoy it! 

~Teller

__

Poisoned Crystals, Chapter Two:

Crystal-Clear Choices

Ludo sat with Sir Didymus some distance from his bridge, upwind, to avoid having the terrible smell from the Bog of Eternal Stench ruining their luncheon. Ludo, who had rather interesting tastes, had brought rancid meat with a light green fuzz coating it and moldy haggis. (Where he found the haggis, Sir Didymus never did find out.) Sir Didymus, being a fox but also a knight, had brought a freshly slaughtered rabbit and a bottle of fine wine. He eyed Ludo's lunch with queasy distaste, but his precious laws of chivalry forbade him to ask Ludo to move it just slightly farther away. Ludo frowned at Didymus' choice of food, and tore into his own with relish. Sir Didymus tactfully looked away and squinted at the high - noon sun. 

"Goodness gracious, is it noon already? We met at eleven, did we not, noble brother?" Ludo grunted his agreement, not willing to be distracted from his meat. "Then by all means let us get started, you to your .. ah, meal, and me to my own." He lifted a goblet of wine to toast the beast when a well-aimed arrow knocked it from his hand (paw). Sir Didymus gasped in shock, then wheeled around, blade in hand (paw) and ready to defend his 'brother.'

"Who is so foul a knave as to _dare_ disturb and disrupt my meal with my brother?" He demanded in his high, wavering voice. Ludo, also on his feet, grunted. High-pitched cackles reached both pairs of ears, and suddenly nets fell down on the two of them, knocking over the bottle of wine. Sir Didymus shrieked his strident wrath, and Ludo bellowed his own, but before the rocks could come to save them, small, silent darts _thwapped_ into both their necks, and suddenly it did not matter that their lunch had been interrupted or that the wine had been spilled, it did not matter that his brother Ludo was whimpering in pain, it did not matter that he could not respond to the invisible force that had begun to tug on him and pull him to the gracious Lady Sarah, it did not matter that the sky was fading slowly from blue to black, it did not matter that he was quickly loosing the consciousness he was not at all sure he could regain . . .

Hoggle looked up suddenly from his lunch of bread and cheese in his small, cramped hut outside the Labyrinth. A familiar tug had begun to itch his skull, one that usually meant Sarah was calling him from Aboveground. He smiled - he was always happy to see her - and stepped out of his hut. 

"I'm a-comin', Sarah!" He called out to no one in particular, bending to lace his shoes. He stood up and found himself face-to-face (actually, more of face-to-leg) with the Goblin King. 

"Good morning, Hogwart," he said in a good natured tone that almost always meant trouble.

"Hoggle, Sire," he corrected, his knees shaking. What did Jareth want of him this time?

"And, where might you be going on this lovely day?" Jareth continued as if Hoggle had not spoken at all. The dwarf glanced at the sky; it had been a beautiful clear blue only moments ago, but now it was so gray with stormclouds it was almost black. 

"Well, Sire, you see, I was making myself lunch when I realized that I was out of - ah - brandy, which always goes well with my - um - meager bread and cheese, so I was hurrying -" 

"To a liquor store named Sarah?" Jareth asked, his smile slow and wicked. Hoggle's eyes widened. 

"S-Sarah, my lord?" Hoggle studdered.

"Yes, Sarah, you maggot-infested buffoon! If I thought for one moment that you were going Aboveground to visit her, do you know what I would have to do?" Hoggle paused.

"Sarah . . . oh - ohh, you must mean the little lady I -- um, met -- in your wonderful Labyrinth, Sire. Until you mentioned her I must admit that I had completely forgotten she existed, you know." Hoggle tried to smile, but failed miserably and ended up wincing. Jareth's expression grew more cruel and demeaning. 

"Don't try to lie to me, you horrid little lout!" He said loudly, prodding Hoggle in the chest with his riding crop. "I don't want you involved with what I'm doing now, it's a very delicate procedure and I can not afford to let little worms like you make mistakes and ruin everything for me. So, since I obviously can't trust you, it's into the dungeons with you." 

"Wh - what, Sire? The - the d-d-dungeons!" Jareth smiled, and it was as harsh as the crack of a whip. 

"Yes, yes, the dungeons." he beckoned to something over Hoggle's shoulder, and a loud CRACK put an end to Hoggle's concern. 

As the only three people - beings? - who could help Sarah lost consciousness, she blinked slowly and began to regain hers. She was aware of little else but the darkness and the confusion, and a strange feeling of loss. _What was I looking for?_

_Where am I?_ she wondered, rubbing her head dazedly. _What just happened?_ There was a flare of yellow light, from which she sheilded her eyes. When the glare had lessened, she lowered her hands and squinted in it's direction. Her eyes met an all-too-familiar figure lounging in a throne of grey stone centered in a currently empty throne room, his chin resting on his right hand, his left tapping a riding crop absentmindedly on his thigh. Inwardly she recoiled; this close to him he reeked of corruption and the decay of all emotion. He appeared to not have noticed her awakening, so she shakily stood and tried to escape the throne room. 

"Oh," a mocking voice said from behind her. "The brave and confident Sarah awakens. Do you feel so confident now, Sarah, that you have lost the one fact that kept you going? Do you find yourself so brave now that you know that your very breath is in my command? Are you so determined to leave my throne room, now?" And although Sarah wished she could run, her legs disobeyed her mind and turned her around, marching her straight back to the small hollow in the floor she had crawled out of. She stepped into it, against her will, and her legs curled underneath her as if they were those of a puppet with cut strings. Sarah fought to cry out, but an iron hand gripped her throat and fused her vocal cords together. She blinked back tears and satisfied herself to glare at the Goblin King, but then her eyes closed. She tried to grind her teeth together in frusturation, but instead her lips curled upwards in a clown-like smile. She felt her determination and desire to fight this cruel magic sink, and just as she was about to let tears seep from under her lashes, the hold on her dropped, at least momentarily, and she opened her eyes and stood and exerted the use of her vocal cords to their full extent while she could. 

"Why have you brought me here?" She demanded quietly. Jareth shook his head, and made a 'tsk, tsk,' noise. 

"Now, Sarah, you know that you are in no position to be making the demands. That is for me to do, and you can trust that I will." For an instant, an insane heat filled his eyes and face, and it chilled and frightened Sarah to the very core of her being. But it had gone as suddenly as it had come, and she forced her muscles to relax. 

"There must be a reason," she said, making herself meet his eyes. Jareth laughed.

"Of course there's a reason, Sarah," he said. "Do you know what it is?"

"If I did, do you think I would be wasting my breath asking you?" She asked hotly. Jareth's eyes clouded in anger, and he stood abruptly from his throne and began to circle her like a cat, or a shark. 

"Careful, Sarah," he warned her, shaking a finger at her as a mother would her child. "I would not loose my temper, were I you: you might find yourself in some unpleasant situations." Sarah took his advice and bit her tongue, and Jareth continued. 

"If you do not know why I have brought you here, I shall not tell you. I can tell you a few things, however, now give me a moment on how to phrase them." He paused, then sat down again in his throne. After a few moments, he leaned forward and spoke. 

"I will trade you for your brother." he said. Sarah, who had expected something more drawn out and explicit, stared. 

"What?" she asked, incredulous. 

"I said, I will trade your position here in the Labyrinth for your baby brother's position Aboveground. You have a choice: either you wander the Labyrinth for the rest of your life, or you hand over your baby brother." 

"Wait," Sarah said, suspiscious. "I thought that you had power over me." She waved her hands mockingly. "If you have so much power, why don't you just force me to hand over Toby?" As much as she disliked giving him ideas, she was sure he had already thought of this.

"My power over you is purely physical. Nothing can control your mind . . . or your heart. Although yes, I could physically make you pick up Toby and hand him to me, I much prefer watching you in torment. So, make your choice: Aboveground, or here?" 

"Easy," Sarah said defiantly, throwing the words at him. "I choose the Labyrinth." Jareth frowned.

"You would rather die here than live out your life above ground?" he said, and if Sarah did not know him so well she would have thought he was displeased. 

"I would," she said, "Because I won't surrender Toby to you ever, ever. The last time you got hold of him was a dreadful mistake on my part, and I'm determined not to remake that mistake. Nothing you can throw at me will make me change my mind." To her surprise and dismay, Jareth grinned. 

"Nothing, fair Sarah?" He repeated. Sarah lifted her chin. 

"Nothing," she said flatly. Jareth conjured three crystals and sent them hovering about her head. 

"Not even this?" he wanted to know. Sarah looked into the first crystal and cried out at what she saw. "Now you have another choice. Either you give me your brother, or this is the future for your 'friends.' "

Within the crystal, she saw a vision of Hoggle chained hand and foot just high enough on a wall that his toes barely scratched the earth beneath him. Dried blood was caked on his forehead, ears, face, and neck, and he looked old and weathered and thin and in pain, and seeing him like this broke her heart. Jareth continued to speak. 

"Of course, if you are set on not handing over your brother, it is possible other arrangements could be made. Perhaps, your word that you shall remain here, in the Labyrinth, forever, for your friends' freedom and your brother's assured safety from me?"

Sarah, thinking quickly and refusing to let any emotion cross her face, looked into the next crystal, and found herself peering into a vision of Sir Didymus - or was it Sir Didymus? If it was, he was a ghost of his former self; all his hair had turned white and his once fluffy tail hung limp and defeated. His eyes were old and tired and sorrowful, and she noticed that patches of hair were missing up and down his ribs. Where the skin showed, it was either rubbed raw as if with sandpaper or bore jagged cuts, infected and swollen with lack of treatment. Tears began to form in her eyes as she looked into the last crystal, already having an idea of what it's vision might be of. 

"Well?" Jareth demanded.

Sure enough, inside she found Ludo, suspended over the Bog of Eternal Stench, mere inches away from it's surface. Blood from multiple wounds all over his body and particularly his face ran through his fur and dripped into the Bog, making it hiss and steam. He was gagged so that he could not summon the rocks to him, and within his eyes she found despair and pain. A single crystalline tear traced a shimmering trail down her cheek as she made her desicion, and Jareth smiled. 


	3. Chapter Two: Seventeen Hours

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is super, super short. Like, really really really short. Sorry! More's coming soon; at least I got this out so quickly. All standard disclaimers apply. 

Read it, review it, and most importantly, enjoy it! Thanks for reading!

~Teller

__

Poisoned Crystals: Chapter Two

"Seventeen Hours" 

Taking a deep, steadying breath, Sarah turned and faced Jareth, blinking remaining tears out of her eyes and pulling stray strands of her long hair out of her face. 

"You've made your desicion, then?" Jareth wanted to know. Sarah paused. 

"I have a better idea," she said. Jareth raised his eyebrows and brought his hands together, putting his fingers together tip-to-tip. He feigned a look of interest. 

"I have goosebumps," he drawled, but did not say anything else, which Sarah took as an encouragement.

"You enjoy making deals," Sarah said, her breath becoming calmer as she spoke. "So, how 'bout this: you scatter the crystals which emprison Ludo, Hoggle, and Sir Didymus throughout the Labyrinth, and I have to find them in twenty-four hours. If I do find them, you have to return me to Aboveground and release my friends, and swear to never harm them."

"And if you don't find them within the alloted twenty-four hours?" Jareth asked, leaning forward. Sarah took another deep breath. 

"Then . . . you can keep me here, forever." She closed her eyes and bit her lip as she waited for Jareth to speak. 

"What about your brother?" He inquired. Sarah's eyes flew open. 

"He is not involved. I cannot bargain his future as well as my own." She said firmly. There weas a pause, and then,

"Done!" He said, striding over to her. 

"Wait!" Sarah said, holding up a hand. "There's one more thing." Jareth frowned. 

"What is it?" He asked.

"You must release your hold on me for the next twenty-four hours, otherwise it . . . ." she hesitated over the words 'isn't fair,' and said instead: "would be too easy for you. Also, no decoys -- you can only hide the three true crystals, no false imitations. Fair?" She asked. A slight frown crossed Jareth's face, but a wolfish smile covered it and he extended his hand. 

"If that is the case, it must be thirteen hours, not twenty-four." Sarah hesitated. Would thirteen hours be enough? 

"Seventeen," she bargained, thinking that another prime number would suit Jareth's nature just fine.

"Very well," he said. Sarah took his hand and shook it, and in a flash of white light both of them disappeared. 

They reappeared, an instant later, at the gates to the Labyrinth. Sarah blinked white stars from her eyes, and a flood of power rushed through her veins, along with the knowledge that the Goblin King had released her. When her eyes focused, she saw Jareth standing before the open doors. He pointed to a clock with the numbers one to seventeen inscribed along it's face in no particular order, and the seven feet all pointed at the golden 'one.' He snapped his fingers, and the clock tolled one. 

"Starting now, you have seventeen hours to find the three crystals, which I have already hidden." He laughed, and stepped aside. "Go on then, Sarah," Sarah nodded and stepped over the threshold, the slam of the heavy iron doors and Jareth's mocking laughter echoing in her ears. 

More coming soon!! (review!)


	4. Chapter Three: The First Hour: The Oak a...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: All standard disclaimers apply. oh, I think I say a few four letter words in this chapter, uh oh ... Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story or anything else of mine! Please no stealing the plot or my characters. Tell me what you think about the trees in your review, which of course you will make.. . right??? 

read it, review it, and most importantly, enjoy it! 

~Teller

__

Poisoned Crystals: Chapter Three

"The First Hour: The Oak and the Willow"

Sarah stared, and turned around slowly so as to make sure her eyes weren't decieving her. The Labyrinth had changed, totally and completely from the way she saw it last. Instead of there being a passageway left and a passageway right, there was what looked like a huge open field all the way to the castle. The field was so wide she couldn't even see walls on any side, and when she turned to look back at the gate, she saw that it had disappeared. 

_Oh, shit_, she thought wildly. _How can I search this entire field in seventeen hours? _

She took another deep breath, and reminded herself that things are not always what they seem to be in this place. She put her hands out in front of her and took several steps forward -- 

-- And ran straight into a solid wall. The field was an illusion; painted onto the brick walls in front of her. She smiled and shook her head. _Maybe this won't be so hard, after all, _she wondered. Running a hand along the wall to feel for any openings, she turned right and began walking. Her hand found a gap within five paces, and she decided to go through it. 

A faint whiff of something very unpleasant reached Sarah's delicate nose. Recognizing immediately what it was, she covered her nose and mouth and turned to head away. Just as she was about to turn into the first passageway again, the image of Ludo hanging above the Bog of Eternal Stench returned to her, and she paused mid-step. She uncovered her nose thoughtfully, and followed the smell as best she could around corners and through intersections. Several times she came to a dead end or lost the smell and had to retrace her steps. Finally, though, after what seemed like an eternity, she turned a corner and found herself facing the BOES. She covered her mouth with her sleeve and began edging carefully around the Bog, not eager to have to smell like it for the rest of her life. She kept her eyes open for the tell tale flash of sunlight reflecting off a smooth surface. She glanced up inadvertently, and what she saw made her heart sink. 

Easily twenty feet high and directly above the Bog, glittering in midair, hovered Ludo's crystal. 

"Oh great," she muttered. "How am I supposed to get up there??"

Off in the distance, a bell began to ring. Sarah caught her breath, and counted the chimes. One . . . two . . . three . . .

Sixteen. Sixteen hours was all she had left? How could an hour have passed already? How?? 

She began to circle the bog, staring at the crystal as if will power would bring it to her. Finally she gave a great cry of frusturation and beat her hands on a nearby tree in anger. 

"Ohhhhhhoh," she wailed. "This is so . . ." she hesitated. "Obscenely difficult!" She supplied hastily, instead of 'unfair.' A mocking laughter rang throughout the bog, and Sarah glared at the sky. Suddenly, a tremor shot through the twisted oak beside her that her hand rested on. Sarah snatched her hand away quickly and backed up. There was a loud, jaw - cracking yawn that shook the earth beneath her feet, and the tree _stood up_. A little shriek of fear escaped Sarah's throat and she hurriedly backed up a few more steps. The tree, using branches as arms and hands, rubbed two spots that would be just above Sarahs head and eyes appeared with a slight _pop_. The tree yawned again, and then looked about for the source of the screams. 

"Oh," it said, pointing all it's limbs up at the sky. It occured to Sarah that it was stretching. "I suppose you've never seen one of us before." 

"N- n-n- no, sir," Sarah managed shakily. "I - I beg your p-pardon." The tree shook violently, tossing leaves and dead limbs away. Sarah quailed in fear.

"I suppose it was you who awoke me, then," the tree said nonchanlantly, seeming not to notice her fear. 

"Y-yes, sir," Sarah said, trying to control herself but failing. 

"Well, in that case I suppose I ought to thank you. Sleeping all curled up may be comfortable while it lasts, but you are so _stiff_ when you wake up." The tree chortled, and Sarah wondered if she had missed a joke. "In any case, my thanks." The tree crumpled up, it's crowning branches brushing it's roots, and Sarah recognized a very courteous bow. She curtsied - somewhat shakily - in return. 

"You are very welcome, sir," she said in a somewhat strangled voice, but not stuttering anymore.

"Is there any way that I can return the favor?" The tree asked, surprising her. 

"I - beg your pardon?" 

"Waking me broke the spell yon Goblin King placed on me and my kin. The others should wake soon too, now that I've sent the Song through the Roots. I must return the favor so I am not in your debt anymore." The tree grinned - or rather, crinkled it's bark into an attempt at a grin. "We are a very proud race." Sarah didn't know what he meant by 'the Song' and she had a feeling that the word 'Roots' was capitalized, and she didn't know why, but she could recognize an offer of help when she was given one. 

"Well, there is one thing," she said, wondering how to phrase what she wanted. 

"Name it," The tree said. Sarah sighed, and pointed at the crystal hovering in the air. 

"Do you see the crystal?" She inquired. The tree shaded his eyes with a leafy branch, and nodded - bobbed? - in affirmative. 

"I do." 

"My dear friend was imprisoned there by the Goblin King. I must reach him, and two other friends of mine, before the end of sixteen hours. Do you have an idea as to how I could reach the crystal?" The tree stared up at the hovering sphere, and long moments passed before he spoke. 

"I cannot reach it," he said shortly. "I am not tall enough yet." He shrugged, and leaves trailed from his branches. "I haven't even lived through my first century yet, so what else can be expected?" He crinkled his bark in another tree-grin. "I'm practically still a child." Sarah was surprised that a tree was so chatty, but her surprise was shadowed with despair. 

"So, you can't think of a way?" She asked. The tree looked mildly offended.

"Did I say that, young lady?" He demanded. "Don't even think to put anything past this oak, ho no! I actually do have an idea: how do you like that?" Sarah was slightly baffled. 

"I - well, I like that just fine, sir," she said. The oak nodded. 

"That's what I thought. Now then!" He stretched again, and leaned over to a large, swishy willow tree Sarah hadn't noticed before. He grabbed some of the vines, and to Sarah's horror, started pulling on them violently. 

"Come on then, come on, wake up, ancient one!" The tree bellowed. Sarah stared. "Get up, get up and smell the stench! We're all waiting for you and you'll be left in the dust if you don't get up now!" The willow shuddered, stood up straight, bent down again, then straightened up and let a colassal sneeze fly, making Sarah's haire fly back and all his vines get tangled. The willow snatched it's vines from the oak, and Sarah got the impression of irritation before he even spoke. 

"Gerroff me, you nuisance," growled the willow sleepily. "I was havin such a noice dream." 

"Well how's this for a dream, old one," the oak shouted, apparently not convinced that he was awake yet. "The spell's broken! We can walk again! Return to our forest and not be trophies for that damn Goblin spawn!" The willow parted it's vines and peered scrutinizingly at the oak. 

"You're sure?" It croaked. It's voice was old and dusty, completely different from the oak's young and robust speech. 

"Sure as dawnin!" Was the reply. The willow paused, and let the curtain of vines fall back over it's trunk. After a moment he reappeared. 

"The spell's broken, then?" The willow questioned, seeming to need reassurance. 

"Broken as a mother's heart!" The willow vanished, then a moment later resurfaced.

"Mother's hearts aren't always broken." it commented. Sarah had reached the end of her tether. 

"Sir, if the spell wasn't broken, would you be having this conversation?" She asked. The willow turned and noticed her for the first time. 

"Point taken, young woman," the willow said. It turned back to the oak, opened his mouth as if to say something, then turned back to Sarah. "So you're her, then." 

"Her who, sir?" 

"The one who woke us, I suppose," the willow said.

_Why do trees always 'suppose'?_ Sarah wondered.

"Yes, sir, that would be me," Sarah admitted. The tree studied her thoughtfully. 

"In that case, your wonderful deed of kindness must be returned," he decided after a moment's consideration. The oak rolled his eyes, and Sarah hid a smile. 

"Your generosity is great, sir," Sarah said seriously. 

"How may we return your favor to us?" The willow asked graciously, bowing.

"Do you see the crystal above the bog, sir?" Sarah asked, pointing. The tree glanced at it.

"I do. What of it?"

"A friend of mine has been imprisoned within it by the Goblin King, and I must reach it. Have you any ideas on how to get it?" Sarah inquired. The willow stretched out a leafy vine and moved as if to pluck the crystal out of the air, but it shimmered and a jolt of blue electricity zapped the vine, which recoiled quickly. Jareth's mocking laughter rang throughout the bog. 

"Tsk, tsk, Sarah, trying to get bystanders involved in our wager? You have to reach that crystal on your own power - nothing more, and nothing less."

"But that's impossible!" Sarah exclaimed. 

"Do you forfeit?" The mockery in Jareth's voice was easily as thick as the sludge at the bottom of the bog. 

"Never," Sarah whispered defiantly. 

"Very well." Jareth sounded disappointed, and with a gust of wind he had gone. Although Sarah had not been able to see him, she could no longer sense his presence, and breathed a great sigh of relief. The willow and the oak looked concerned. 

"If we cannot get your crystal, how can we repay you?" Asked the oak. Sarah shook her head.

"Just a moment," she said. "I'm thinking." 

_On my own power_, she thought wildly. _I have no power, I'm just a mortal. I'm no goblin or fairy or nymph . . . how can I reach that crystal?_ In her frusturation she kicked a rock into the Bog and listened for a satisfying plop . . . but it never came. She turned around and saw the rock she had kicked floating in midair as if there was a solid surface for it to land on. Sarah frowned, and bent down closer to the edge of the bog. She covered her nose with her hand and held her breath, watching a small gas vent two feet infront of her. When the yellowish gas would pour out of the mouth of the vent, an area two or three feet directly above it would fog up from the heat. Sarah carefully put a hand out and encountered the smooth surface of glass. Running her hand along it she traced the familiar design of a staircase. She allowed a smile to cross her face, and she stood. Carefully she put her foot out, and when she lowered it she again found the glass. She raised her other foot and found another step. Carefully feeling her way and with her arms out for balance, Sarah slowly made her way up to the crystal. When she reached it, she delicately plucked it out of the air and began her descent back to safety. When she reached the ground again, The crystal sparkled and popped, and Ludo appeared. 

"Ludo!" Sarah exclaimed, and threw her arms around him.

"Sarah?" He asked, rubbing his head and looking around slowly. "Smell _bad_. Head _hurt_." 

"Oh, I know, Ludo, I know," Sarah said, smoothing his fur. She was about to ask him another question when suddenly he howled and disappeared. 

"_Jareth!_" Sarah shrieked. 

"On your own power," echoed Jareth's voice. Sarah stamped her foot against the ground in anger. 

"You won't hurt him?" she asked. There was no response, which she decided to take as an affirmative. She turned back to the oak and willow. 

"We still must repay your debt," Chorused the two. 

"I know, I know," Sarah said. "Okay, ask all the trees in the Labyrinth if they've seen any crystals appear nearby them?" The willow nodded and closed his eyes, ruffling his vines in a nonexistent breeze. Moments later he opened them.

"The trees have seen nothing. There's a shrub in the hedge maze that insists it saw the Messiah, Abraham Lincoln, and Queen Mab walking arm in arm, but it lives very nearby some suspicious mushrooms so I wouldn't take his word."

"Okay," Sarah said, slightly disappointed. "Well, I guess that narrows it down some, after all." She paused, and looked around, not sure where to go. "thank you for your help. I release you of any debt you may feel you are still in."

"Thank you, young woman. But if you are ever in need of assistance, the trees will be happy to give it to you, if they can. We will remain in the Labyrinth with you for the next sixteen hours." Said the oak. 

"Thank you," sarah said gratefully. "That means a lot to me." She turned, and saw a doorway carefully carved into a nearby stone wall. "I guess I'll go that way. Thank you again for all your help!" The two trees bowed, and faded into the background as Sarah continued her search for Hoggle and Sir Didymus. 

(Review)


	5. Chapter Four: The Second Hour: A Marble ...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi guys! I'm sorry it took so long, there's really no excuse . . . I'll try to keep it going this time, but there's no guarantee. Please be patient with me!!! And if you review, I'll write more . . . 

~Teller 

__

Poisoned Crystals: Chapter

"The Second Hour: A Marble Cell"

Sarah stepped through the doorway carefully, trying without success to avoid the cobwebs that had accumulated there over time. Brushing herself off, she slowly moved forwards, keeping her eyes wide open to her surroundings. She was no longer outside, but found herself in a huge stone hall made up of gray marble. The room was so large she could not see the vaulted ceiling, and the pillars that lined the far edge of the room were blurred with darkness. No light penetrated the room from outside, yet a dim, murky glow from an unseen source kept it so that she was not completely blind. 

She walked along the wall, trailing her hand on the gray stone and peering into the darkness at the other side of the room, when her hand ran over wood instead of stone. She looked at the wall, and found a door there. She looked ahead, and saw that the entire room was lined of doors, all of the same nondescript brown wood, barely high enough for her to walk in to without stooping, and with a small window at eye level that had an iron grate across it. She looked carefully at the door, but it had nothing more and nothing less than a keyhole and an iron knob. She tried the door, but it was locked, so she peered in through the iron grate. She couldn't see anything; it was pitch dark inside the room she suspected to be a cell. 

Sarah leaned against the wall, her delicate eyebrows furrowing in thought. Hadn't Sir Didymus been seen chained to a wall? She closed her eyes and tried to remember -- was that wall of gray marble? She sighed and opened her eyes; she suspected it was made of gray marble, but how did that help her? The room was huge, and once she found Sir Didymus -- assuming he was here -- how could she open the door, without the key and without Ludo to bash it in for her? She searched the darkness behind the door again, but still could see nothing. She glanced around the room, trying to think of how she could look inside the cells without wasting too much time. As her gaze drifted up to the vaulted ceiling, she wondered if her voice would echo. 

Her eyebrows lifted in delight. That was it, she would shout! If Sir Didymus was here, surely he would answer her. 

"Sir Didymus!" She bellowed at the top of her lungs, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Sir Didymus, it's me, Sarah!" 

__

Sarah . . . Sarah . . . Sarah . . . the walls seemed to whisper, raising the hair on the back of her neck until she realized that it was, indeed, an echo. She waited a moment, and then shouted again when she heard no response. Again, her cries faded away into silence without an answering call. She sighed and moved on to the next door, deciding she would have to search the cells one by one after all. 

When she had come to the third cell from where she started, she heard a banging that sounded like wood against metal, very faint. She paused and followed it across the room and to her left, to a cell in the corner. The banging faded away for a moment, and Sarah paused, but then it resumed again and she approached the cell two doors from a corner. She put her hands to the grate and squinted into the darkness. 

"Sir Didymus?" she asked. There was no voice, but another loud smash. A strange mix between a cough and a choke issued from the cell, and then a dry, rasping voice floated to her ears from somewhere in the darkness. 

"Lady Sarah -- is that you?" The familiar voice whispered. 

"Sir Didymus!" She cried, grabbing the door handle and pushing forward with her shoulder and hip against the door. But the knob glowed a bright red and pushed back at her. 

"Ow!" she said, putting burned fingers in her mouth to cool them. She shook her burned hand, trying to rid herself of the heat. "Sir Didymus, I can't open your door! What happened to you? Are you all right?" A dry cough preceded the fox's words. 

"I'm perfectly fine, my lady; the lack of water has made my throat dry and makes it difficult for me to speak." Sarah gasped. 

"Have they been cruel to you?" She demanded. 

"No, no, my lady . . . not exactly. I expect His Highness forgot that I was here at all."

"Has he spoken to you?" She asked. Another cough. 

"Well, he locked the door to my cell and put the manacles on my paws himself, although he said nothing at all why he did it. I believe the door will respond only to his key, the one he wears about his neck - it will open any door in the Labyrinth." Sarah felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. She needed the key about Jareth's neck to get to Sir Didymus, but he surely wouldn't give it to her, knowing that if he did he would loose his bet? She bit her lip and tried not to let the tears that flooded behind her eyelids

"The key . . . about his neck . . ." She whispered, feeling the tears build up once more. She would have to find her way through the Labyrinth to the Goblin City and into the castle, steal the key from him, and find her way back . . . in sixteen hours. 

As if mocking her, a loud bell from somewhere above her tolled fifteen times. She went back to Sir Didymus' window and called in to him. 

"Sir Didymus, I have to get you out of there. I'm going to go find the key - I'll be right back, I promise."

"No! My lady, you must not go near the Goblin King!" 

"Sir Didymus, I have to get you out of there! It's the only way, I promise, or I wouldn't be doing it, believe me. Can't you trust me?" 

"As my lady wishes," his voice said through a deep sigh. 

"Have you seen Hoggle?" She asked him quickly. 

"No, my lady, not since last Monday." She sighed again. Maybe she would find Hoggle on the way to or from the Goblin City.

"All right. I'll be back soon, I promise." No response reached her from the darkness, and she sighed again and began jogging to the door through which she had entered. 

Jareth sat in his throne room, watching Sarah through a crystal ball he spun between his fingers. A quick, feral smile glinted across his teeth, and a low chuckle escaped him, echoing throughout the deserted chamber. He watched her miniature image in the crystal ball stumble through the Shifting Doorway. 

"Yes, Sarah, I have what you're looking for . . ." He whispered, toying with the key about his neck. 

But the key was not what he spoke of. 


	6. Chapter Five: The Third Hour: Skeleton K...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey, can you believe this? two chapters in two days? I need everyone who has read/is reading this story to sign a document saying they have witnessed a miracle. 

just kidding. all standard disclaimers apply, yadda yadda yadda, read it, review it, and most importantly, enjoy it! 

thanks!  
~Teller

__

Poisoned Crystals: Chapter Five

"The Third Hour: Skeleton Key"

Sarah stumbled across the doorframe, and found herself not in the Bog of Eternal Stench, but in a small village. She looked behind her and found not a doorway, but a solid cliff wall. 

"Oh, no . . ." She moaned. The room, apparently, was like many things in the Labyrinth -- not as it seems, and in this case, not ever in the same spot. She looked about her new surroundings, trying not to let herself feel too alienated. It appeared to be a seaside village, although she had never seen an ocean in the Labyrinth before. And an ocean it definitely was, the all-too familiar smell was already wrapping itself around her, dampening her hair and skin with salt and seaweed. She stepped cautiously forwards, looking around with interest at the buildings and boats. 

It seemed, after a careful look around, not to be a small village after all, but in fact a bustling city of many races. She was not sure of what any of them actually were, but she did notice that there was not a single goblin among any of them. She picked her way through the crowd - it was mostly below her waist level, with a few exceptions that towered over her head by several feet. She looked to the horizon, and saw the outline of the castle stark black against the light skyline. She paused and looked calculatingly at the Labyrinth. Could she possibly find a guide to the castle? 

She grinned to herself and headed towards what appeared to be either an inn or a bar of some sort, feeling in her pockets for what she may have to bribe some creature with to lead her to the palace. She wore several plastic bangles with cheap rhinestones and a few sparkling bobby pins. She wore a silver necklace about her neck with a small heart charm at the end -- she doubted she would bargain that and hoped she would not need to. She tucked it into her pocket just in case greedy eyes would see it before she bargained it. She wore a few other odds and ends that she would not be unhappy to part with, most of it was costume jewelery anyway. She reached the door to a bar called "the Singin' Shore," and nearly had to bend at the waist to get in. 

Once she was inside the building, she could almost stand up straight, and she sat down at one of the bar stools, surveying the creatures and wondering who might be willing to lead her through the Labyrinth. The door opened again, and a crowd of magical creatures flooded in. Something wearing a heavy boat cloak sat down at a table behind her and called for a beer in a creaking voice. The bartender, a gnarled old gnome that put her in mind of Hoggle, hurried over to give it to him, and took small silver coins in exchange. When the bartender returned, he eyed Sarah suspiciously and began rubbing the counter with an old rag that probably made the surface more dirty than clean. 

"How can I help you, human?" he asked roughly. Sarah leaned forward and whispered, 

"I'm looking for a guide through the Labyrinth to the Goblin City. Do you know of anyone who might take me there?" He raised his eyebrows, and the mistrust was so heavy in his eyes it was almost tangible. "I'd repay them, of course . . ." Sarah said, gesturing with a hand that wore several rings. The silver and gilt caught his attention, and he followed her hand with eyes that had abandoned suspicion for greed. 

"Well, I just might know someone . . ." he whispered conspiratorially, leaning towards her. "But there are no promises . . ."

"And there is no payment until I am safely at the Goblin gates, within the hour."

"Four hours."

"One and a half."

"Three," the gnome countered. 

"Two, and that's my final offer." Sarah said, half- standing up. The gnome grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down. 

"Two and three quarters, and I get your bangles and two of your rings."

"Two and a half, and it's a deal."

"Very well." 

"Okay," Sarah said, shaking hands with him. The gnome tucked the rag into his belt. 

"I don't usually get off until the next bell, but I bet I can find someone to cover for me . . ." 

"If you're looking for a guide to the castle, Sarah, I believe I may be of better assistance than this urchin," a harsh, yet musical, voice said from behind her. Sarah stiffened and turned around, both afraid and eager for what she knew she would see. The thing in the boat cloak had stood, and threw off his disguise with a snarl of distaste. The other bar-goers very suddenly and silently disappeared, and the bartender quailed underneath his rag. Sarah straightened her back as high as the ceiling would allow, and glared defiantly into Jareth's face. 

"Oh dear . . . are you lost, Sarah?" he asked in a lilting tone, tilting his head to one side. Sarah's eyes drifted down to his chest, where a glittering key hung. Her eyes widened, but she refused to le the Goblin King read her like an open book. She closed off her face from all expression save one of disdain that she reserved particularly for him. 

"Even as lost as you will be when I win this bet," she countered, leaning against the bar lazily. What a game they played, bantering back and forth until his words and expressions pulled forth a rage Sarah hadn't even known was there. Well, not this time: they would banter, but it would be Jareth who lost at his own game in this round. Jareth's attention shifted from Sarah to the bartender hiding behind her. 

"As for you," he growled, picking the poor creature up by the nape of his neck. "What did you think you were doing? Helping a human through the Labyrinth?" 

"N-n-no, sir," the creature said in a muffled voice, hiding his face behind his gnarled hands. 

"Good, because if you were, do you know what the penalty would be?" He demanded, throwing him back to the ground. The pitiful thing moaned and quailed beneath him, covering his head with his arms. 

"N-not the Bog!" He wailed, shaking violently. "P-please, sir, I never did anything wrong! She - she threatened me!" He said in desperation pointing at Sarah. Jareth raised his eyebrows and sent a questioning look at Sarah. The pity she had felt for the creature dissolved into disgust that he would prostrate himself so before the monstrous Goblin King. Jareth opened his mouth to speak, but Sarah beat him to it. 

"The thing lies, Jareth, I would never sink to your level." 

"Ooh, Sarah, why sharpen your claws on me?" He asked, momentarily forgetting about the poor thing beneath him. Taking advantage of the King's distraction, he began to scrabble away towards the door. Jareth watched him go, his eyes and expression unreadable. He turned back to Sarah, who was watching him carefully, trying to think of how she could get the key from him. 

"So, Sarah," He said, approaching her. Her first instinct was to back away, but she held her ground and lifted her head haughtily. 

"Have you come to waste my time?" She demanded. Jareth's expression was affronting. 

"If you think so low of me, Sarah, then I will stop the clock while we speak." And, to Sarah's amazement, he gestured with his right hand and pointed at the clock that appeared. The hands stopped moving, and he turned back to her with raised eyebrows and unreadable eyes. 

"Well?" She said. "Surely you have not come out of your castle merely to show me that you have the power to stop time." 

"Do you think me so vain, Sarah?" 

"Ever heard of Narcissus?" 

Jareth sighed, and Sarah was surprised to see something akin to sorrow in his eyes. The next instant, however, the expression had disappeared as rapidly as if it had never been.

"I have not come to waste your time, or impress you, but to reward you for finding that . . . Ludo - so quickly." Now it was Sarah's turn to raise her eyebrows. Jareth continued speaking, keeping eye contact with her, and it seemed as if he read her straight through to the bottom of her heart and soul. Sarah found that she could not even speak, so powerful was his gaze. He stepped forward, closing the distance between them until she was confronted with the bare skin of his collarbones. She looked up, startled, to see a wolfish grin dart across his face, showing gleaming teeth. She realized her breath was labored and coming quickly, and she felt a flush rising in her face. Jareth bent down until their lips were nearly touching, and Sarah put out a hand to stop him. 

It landed on the key that hung around his neck, and an idea came to her. She startled herself by actually following through with it, and as her hand closed around the key, she stepped up on her tip toes to kiss the unexpecting Goblin King.

Jolts of electricity exploded through her veins, making small stars burst before her eyes, and a warmth and giddiness that she had never felt before flooded through her entire mind and body. The golden, shimmering feeling that rushed through her as constant and rythmic as the pounding of the surf outside almost made her forget her task, almost made her loose herself in the maze of Jareth's sudden appearing perfection. But at the last moment, she remembered, and put her hands about his neck to deepen the kiss. 

He was startled, at first, but did not push her away, and didn't notice Sarah's hands that were twining about his neck were in fact undoing the clasp of the chain that held the key about his neck. As the kiss went on, he responded with an eagerness that startled Sarah as much as her reaction had startled him. When they finally broke away, his eyes held a surprising warmth and his expression was one that she had never seen before. She let her hands slide back down to rest at her side, and she quickly tucked the key and it's chain into her pocket. 

"Sarah," he whispered, but then his hands flew to his neck, and a crimson blush rose in his cheeks. His entire face seemed to harden and set itself into the expression she was most familiar with. 

"Give it back," he said dangerously, extending his hand. Sarah shook her head and backed away, very suddenly terrified of this man who seemed to loom over her in his fury. She turned and ran, and was surprised when she found that she felt no sense of victory. 


	7. Chapter Six: The Fourth and Fifth Hours:...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I don't know what to say here. I'm on a roll! no one break my concentration!! Three chapters in three days! Now, come on, I *deserve* a review! (or two, or three, or seven . . .)

all standard disclaimers apply. 

Read it, review it, and most importantly, enjoy it! 

Thanks!  
~Teller

__

Poisoned Crystals: Chapter Six

"The Third and Fourth Hours: The Oubliette And Other Things"

"Dammit!" He shouted, slamming his fist through the counter at the bar. His face was vivid with rage he normally would refuse to let himself show. She had tricked him, used him . . . 

_A side you've never seen in her before_, a cold, calculating voice whispered to him. _Do you hate it so much? _

Jareth leaned against the ruins of the counter, thinking. He had never even thought of _thinking_ of Sarah as a seductress . . . but this showed what she was capable of . . . _and_ _how desperate she is to get out of my kingdom,_ he thought bitterly. But couldn't it be merely that she feared for her companion's safety? He thought of where he had placed that dwarf, Hogmal, and his rage disappeared, the primal smile creeping back to his lips. She may have won this battle, but it was **he** who would win the war. He snapped his fingers, and the clock tolled fourteen times. With a final glare about the shoddy bar, he composed himself and disappeared. 

Her first thought, as she ran and listened to the bells, counting each stroke silently, was to run to the cliffs where the door had let her out. And, indeed, there was a new door there, but it was not the same one that led to Sir Didymus' cell. Thinking that she might as well, she pushed open the door and stepped in. 

Unfortunately, there was nothing beneath her feet. 

She shrieked as she fell through the air, but couldn't help thinking, _you'd think I'd learn to look before I leap by now _. . .Oh well, it was too late, and it looked like there weren't any Helping Hands to stop her now . . . 

"Oof!" she grunted as she landed, hard, on the dirt floor of the Oubliette, and heard the slamming of the prison door above her with a sinking feeling. She stared around the darkness, trying desperately to think of a way she could get out. 

Jareth sat again in his throne, again watched her through a small crystal he toyed with. 

"Come, come, now, my girl, if you can't even think of _that_ you are far less than I thought you were . . ." He chided, feeling slightly disappointed in her. 

Sarah's eyes suddenly lit up and a giggle escaped her. She had the way out; she had Jareth's Skeleton Key! Giggling insanely, she pulled it out of her pocket, kissed it, and turned to feel for any door or window along the walls of the prison. She found it, and struggled for a moment with the keyhole, but within a minute she had shoved the door open, and with a careful look at the ground in front of her, stepped out of the prison with a triumphant "Ha!" 

Jareth grinned widely, and actually patted the crystal. 

"Good girl. Just a bit farther . . ."

Sarah looked around the dim place she found herself in. There was hardly any light at all, but it was not so dark she couldn't see. She was, apparently, in a cellar, or something akin to one. Not surprisingly, the door to the Oubliette had disappeared, and a simple earthen wall had replaced it. She saw a stair case just to her right, and she hurried up it, tucking the key into her pocket again. She opened the door, and again looked carefully before stepping into what was, apparently, the home of a Goblin. Luckily for her, it was deserted . . .

_Slam!_

The sound of a door being closed violently was followed by quick footsteps sounding like they were coming towards her. She looked around wildly for a place to hide, but she was larger than everything else in the room by half. She was halfway under the table when a goblin, helmet and spear in hand, marched into the room. 

His small, piggy eyes widened when he saw Sarah, and froze in mid-step. He seemed to be torn between rushing at her and running away, and finally he dropped his helmet to the ground with a loud clatter and spun around, sprinting out the door. Sarah cursed and followed, hoping to escape once she was in the freedom of the streets. 

But no sooner had she crossed the goblin's threshold when no less than six small spears were pointed at her throat - or as near her throat as they could reach. She didn't even have time to try and think of a way out of this situation when something hard and heavy hit her head from above, and she saw a fairly good-sized stone hit the ground just before she did. 

She woke up to the sound of a bell ringing. Lazily she counted the peals, not quite knowing why she did so. When they faded away after the thirteenth toll, she sat up straight and heard chains rattle around her. Thirteen hours was all she had left? What had happened? She couldn't quite remember . . . 

That's right -- those damned goblins had knocked her out! Where was she now? She reached up to touch her head with a shaking hand, but her wrists were cuffed together with iron manacles and she could reach no higher than her shoulders. Her feet were bound in the same manner. Could she reach the precious skeleton key? She took a deep breath and stretched her hands around to her back pocket. She felt the cool metal edge but couldn't quite get a grip, and she had to relax. She took another deep breath and tried again - almost, it was halfway out of her pocket now, don't drop it . . . .try again . . . success! She grinned to herself as she bent down and unlocked her feet and then her hands, setting them aside as quietly as possible.

She bent down and put her ear to the keyhole before opening the door, just to make sure no one was out in the hallway who would see her. She didn't hear anything, so she put the key in the lock, and after fumbling for a moment, pushed the door open quietly -- it didn't even squeak on it's ancient hinges. She stepped out into a hallway that was dimly lit with torches and was made of simple gray stone. It was lined with doors similar to the one she had just stepped out of, which was at the very end of the corridor. Keeping close to one wall, she crept towards the end of the hallway, and turned right. 

She was confronted with another hallway, but this one was slightly different. Instead of having wooden doors every four or five feet, it had iron bars floor to ceiling. Shadowy forms hunched over in corners, mumbling or rocking back and forth. Sarah decided that she did not want to go down that hall, so she turned to her left, where a staircase wound upwards. With one last look down the two dungeon-like hallways, she turned and began jogging up the stairs. 

In one of the cells in the second hallway that Sarah had decided not to go through, a tired and worn dwarf quivered and twitched in his sleep, trying to run from the inescapable nightmares that had plagued him ever since Jareth put him there. He moaned and turned over in his sleep, pulling his leather vest tighter around him, unaware that rescue had passed him by. 


	8. Chapter Seven: The Fifth Hour (cont'd): ...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: All standard disclaimers apply. thank you SO much for all the great reviews, I love them! Read it, review it, and most importantly, enojoy it! Thanks!  
~Teller

PS: (02/24/02) Thanks to my faithful reviewers for letting me know this chapter was sliced in half . . . . . ::kicks ffnet:: kudos to you guys! Luv ya all.

__

Poisoned Crystals: Chapter Seven

"The Fifth Hour (cont'd): The Library"

Sarah came up the last turn of the staircase, and found herself staring into the Goblin King's throne room. She cursed; how could she win this bet when he controlled the very paths she walked upon? But luckily for her, the room was empty, and she hurried through it to the window. 

Outside she could see the entire Goblin City and Labyrinth, and beyond it, an ocean, instead of the plains she had seen the last time she had been here. As she looked upon the winding, twisted paths of the Labyrinth, she felt a cold claw of fear clutch at her heart for the very first time. It would be impossible to find Hoggle in all of this, let alone finding that shifting room where Sir Didymus was kept! She sighed and leaned against the wall next to the window, and closed her eyes. A few moments passed before she realized that Jareth's throne room was probably not the best place to be, so she stood from the wall and took a low, thin hallway out of the throne room. 

Only minutes later she was regretting her choice of exits. The hall had been completely straight, and there were no doors at all on either side. She didn't want to turn back, although she could still see the light coming in through the tunnel from the throne room. She wondered if this hall led to anything at all, if it was just a fake corridor that kept going on and on without ever going anywhere. She looked over her shoulder back at the throne room, wondering if she should turn back -

- and ran into a wooden door. She stopped and looked carefully at what she had run into, and saw it was a simple pair of oak double doors with the words "The Library" written in gold across them in graceful lettering. There was a heavy padlock across it, and Sarah stepped forwards, grinning, pulling out her Skeleton Key. She turned the lock and tossed the padlock to the ground, and raised the heavy bar that kept the doors shut. She stretched her hand forwards to unlock the actual doors, but a hand with an iron grip grabbed her own hand from behind. She spun around, and found Jareth standing behind her. He plucked the Key from her hand, and she lunged for it, biting back a scream of outrage. 

"No," he said sharply. "Do not go into the Library." Sarah wrenched her hand away from his, glaring at him. 

"And why not?" She asked, equally sharp. 

"Don't question me, Sarah. Be thankful I saved you when I did. If you had opened the doors it would have been too late -- I'm surprised you rose the bar unscathed."

"And what is _that_ supposed to mean?" She asked, snatching the key back from him. He let her take it, looking indifferent. 

"The Library is forbidden," Jareth said, looking dangerous. 

"You know, you wouldn't be having this problem if you hadn't _brought_ me here in the first place!" Sarah shouted. Jareth frowned. 

"If you hadn't wished your brother away, I wouldn't have brought you here," he pointed out. 

"I didn't wish my brother away! Not this time - it was all you!" 

"You called me to you!" Jareth shouted back. 

"I - what?" Sarah said, quieting. Jareth was angry at himself for actually shouting with her; he should have kept control of himself better. "What did you say?" Sarah asked him again. Jareth shook his head. 

"Sarah, do not anger me further. I have been kind thus far -"

" - but you can be cruel," Sarah finished for him, rolling her eyes. "Look, Jareth, I don't exactly have the time to argue with you. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to continue my search." She turned back to the Library's doors, and Jareth opened his mouth to protest, then stopped and shook his head. He smiled grimly. 

"Fine." 

Sarah turned around to look at him, but he had disappeared. Sarah frowned into the darkness -- what had that been about? And why did something inside of her twist painfully when she heard the echoes of her mocking words? 

_You've got to be kidding me_, Sarah thought to herself. She gave herself a little shake and put the key in the lock. Slowly,she turned it, and the doors floated open by themselves. She felt a tingling at the back of her neck, and the hair there raised, but that was all. She stepped forwards into the Library, and shrugged. 

"I don't know what he was so worried about," She said, hearing the silence after her voice settle down around her like a heavy blanket. She took another step forward, and torches on the wall flared into life around her as the doors to the hallway slammed shut with an ominous crash.

Jareth watched her, frowning. Why hadn't the Guardians struck her down?

Sarah, a bit spooked by the loud crash of the doors but otherwise unaffected, looked around her uncertainly. As if responding to her unspoken wish, the torches blazed brighter, and the darkness pulled away like curtains being pulled back from a window. Sarah inhaled sharply and looked up, drinking in what she saw. 

Jareth shrugged. Sarah had gone past where he could follow, and now she was truly on her own.

It was a beautiful stair-well. The stairs curved upwards around a room that was easily the size of a baseball diamond and so high that she couldn't see a ceiling. Doors lined the staircase, each one different and inspiring of a different emotion - some were beautiful, others frightening. The staircase, too, was a work of art, wrought of precious metals she did not recognize. She walked towards the first step, setting her arm on the railing uncertainly. The stairs were wide enough for five Sarahs to walk abreast. 

_Where are the books?_ Sarah wondered irrelevantly. She slowly began walking up the stairs, not sure of why she was acting so reverent. _It's just a room, a beautiful room,_ she thought. _Nothing more_. But doubts ran their ice-cold fingers up and down her spine, coaxing goosebumps out of her smooth skin. _Nothing is as it seems here_ . . . 

Sarah reached the first door - double doors, actually, with a wide landing to accomadate them. They were wooden, and carved into them were many small faces, each of an angelic-looking child that resembled a cherub or Cupid slightly. She put her hand on the simple, gilded handle, and surprisingly, found that it wasn't locked as pulled it open slightly.

Her shriek echoed throughout the cavernous room. On the inside of the doors were scores of faces twisted into grotesque expressions and montrosities. It took her a moment to realize that each dreadful face would be identical to the face in the same place on the outside if it wasn't twisted and pulled into unnatural positions. Peering closer at the terrible faces, she realized that they weren't even human -- they were goblin faces. She inhaled sharply and pulled a torch from a nearby bracket and stepped into the room. 

It was plain inside - gray stone and a simple, crude table and chair in the center with one lamp burning brightly to one side. In the middle of the table was a huge book, easily the size of a large kitchen sink and almost as deep. It was shut, but not bound, and a simple quill and ink well rested to the right of it. She walked over to the book and slowly opened the cover. There was no title, nor title page of any sort, but a long list of names and numbers in a column on the left side, and a column of other names on the right side - sort of like this: 

Anthony McKinn, 1458, 5 months Brocknose 

Schueler Larkin, 1458, 3 years Cheerhag

She flipped through the pages, wide-eyed. Every single page was filled, top to bottom with names, dates, and ages. _What is this?_ she wondered, but even as she thought that, she knew what it was. 

It was the list of children who had been wished away, for whatever reason, and turned into goblins . . . she turned the last page, and almost dropped the torch. In the distance, a bell began to toll - twelve times.

Toby Willians, 1992, 2 years 

Sarah Williams, 1992, 16 years


	9. Chatper Eight: The Sixth Hour: Up the St...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey all! Just so you know, I won't really be home much this weekend, so I may not have time to write for the next few days. So this means all you guys are going to have to review lots and lots to remind me to keep going on monday! Okay?!?! Anyways, all standard disclaimers apply. Thanks for reading!   
Read it, review it, and most importantly, enjoy it! thanks again!  
~Teller

__

Poisoned Crystals: Chapter Eight

"The Sixth Hour: Up the Stairs and Through the Doors..._"_

The bell woke Sarah from her startled reverie. Whatever the book meant, she didn't have time to consider it. She had to find Hoggle and Sir Didymus, fast. She shut the book and left the room, making sure the doors were securely shut behind her, and continued up the staircase. 

The next door - another double door set - was pure gold, with silver and mother-of-pearl swirling in delicate designs across the panels. The beauty of it made Sarah want to weep, but it also reminded her of something . . . she wasn't sure what. She took a deep breath and pushed open the doors. 

Immeadiately she wished she hadn't. It was the ballroom in which she had danced with Jareth during her first journey through the Labryinth. The same dancers were dancing to the same song as they had been weeks before. She turned around quickly and caught the doorhandles just before they melted away, and practically flew out the doors. They shut quietly behind her, leaving a few notes hanging in the air above her head before they melted away into the serene silence the Library had. She took a few minutes to get her breath back, and moved up to the next door. 

This one wasn't double, just a single, cut of rough wood, with a strange - but very real - skeleton hanging from it. Sarah shuddered and continued, without even feeling remotely curious of what was inside. 

The next door she almost walked right by, it was blended in so well to the wall. The only reason she saw it at all is because of the door knob, and she only saw that because the torchlight reflected off of it and it glinted slightly in the dark. She pulled it open, and saw that she was looking into the same corridor she had looked at earlier - the one with iron bars floor to ceiling. She almost shut the door and continued, when that same tingle she had felt at the back of her neck stopped her. She peered into the darkness, and raised her torch to illuminate it somewhat. A light breeze came from behind Sarah and flowed into the corridor, and Sarah got the distinct feeling someone - or something - was trying to guide her - or push her - into the room. She shrugged and followed the breeze, being sure to stay in the center of the space between the cell bars. _Are these the dungeons?_ She wondered. She had gone about halfway down the hall when the breeze stopped suddenly, and she looked to her right on instinct. 

A familiar form was huddled there, in the corner. 

"Hoggle!" She cried, rushing to the doors and hurriedly unlocking the iron bars to his cell. She flung the door open and rushed in, helping the poor dwarf sit up. He looked tired and sick, and she helped him stand up. 

"Are you all right, Hoggle?" She asked him, concerned. He coughed and looked up at her, but his eyes couldn't quite focus. 

"S-S-Sarah?" He asked in his throaty voice. Sarah nodded and brushed some of his wispy hair out of his face. 

"Yes, Hoggle, it's me, are you all right?" He coughed again, and threw his arms around her in a tight hug. 

"I've been better," He admitted. "Can we leave now?" Sarah nodded and stood up, and realized that she was blinking back tears. 

"Did they mistreat you?" She asked. Hoggle shrugged. As soon as they had stepped out of the cell he seemed to be feeling much better.

"Not directly. This is the King's dungeons, though, and if you fall asleep here the Nightmares get you." 

"The Nightmares?" Sarah asked. Hoggle nodded, and a spasm of fear passed across his face. 

"They're the worst kind of Goblins. Usually the children who are wished away turn into Nightmares. They know what your worst fear is, and when you sleep, they whisper it to you and you dream it . . . over and over again . . . and they usually don't let you wake up for at least a year . . ." he shuddered, almost convulsively, and wrapped his arms around Sarah again as they reached the door that led back out into the Library. They were about to step out onto the Staircase again when Hoggle stopped and opened his mouth as if to say something, but there was a sudden rush of wind - almost a gale - and Hoggle disappeared. The back of Sarah's neck tingled, and the door into the Hall of Nightmares slammed shut in her face. 

Sarah sighed deeply. She had expected Jareth to take Hoggle away from her, and was glad to have at least a few words with him before he disappeared. What luck she had found him, though . . . and this time it had been pure luck, she hadn't thought about the visions as she had with Ludo. She sighed again and looked up the stairs. She had only gone around the full curve of the room once, and although the staircase was steep, it didn't look as if she was even close to being halfway up it. She took another deep breath, made sure she had the key tucked in securely in her back pocket, and continued up the stairs. 

Jareth frowned into the crystal. Hoggle was now safely with the beast in the Escher Room, and the two would remain there until the remaining twelve hours were up. But Sarah had seen her name in the Book of Nightmares . . . and, although he couldn't prove it, he felt sure she had assistance in the Library. After all, something had saved her from the wrath of the Guardians . . . or possibly it _was_ the Guardians who were helping her . . . but they were even rude to him, and he was of the old blood . . . but that would make Sarah . . . 

The next door Sarah reached was another set of double doors, and they were covered with a green leather-y substance and made to look as if they were two books. She pushed them open and stepped into a true library, with thick, old books floor to ceiling. Sunlight drifted down from the high ceiling in lazy circles, blending with the dust motes and giving the room a hazy, dream-like look. There were several tables and comfortable arm chairs in the middle of the room, and bookshelves lined the walls. Ladders on wheels were hooked up to each shelf, and she stepped onto the first one, smiling faintly and remembering the library where this entire misadventure had begun. She looked upwards and decided to climb to the ceiling, just for the heck of it. 

It was much further than it looked, Sarah decided some ten minutes later, breathing hard as she pulled herself up to the final rung and brushed the white-washed ceiling with her fingers. She looked over her shoulder and saw that the shelves of the Library looked like a miniature Labyrinth, and she paused to marvel at the beauty and art of it. The floor looked so far away . . . it was a good thing she wasn't afraid of heights. She turned back to the ladder and was about to climb down when a book caught the corner of her eye. She wasn't sure why it caught her eye, but it did, and she felt that same hair-raising tingle as she slowly pulled it off the shelf and looked at the cover. 

It was roughly the same size as the book she had seen in the first room of the Library - the one with the long lists of names in it, including hers and her half-brother's. But it was bound in the same green leather that covered the doors to this room, and written in gold across the spine of it in block letters was "The Labyrinth." Curious, she cracked it open to a random page, and found that it was not the same copy as the one she owned at home. In fact, it wasn't even close . . . it talked about completely different things. She shut the book and hurried back down the ladder, almost slipping on a few rungs. When she finally did reach the ground again, she let out a sigh of relief, and looked back up at the ladder. It was a much higher climb than she had thought. 

Turning from the ladder, she sat down at the nearest table and opened the book to it's first page. In the same gold ink as on the spine and in the same block letters was written "The Labyrinth" again in the center of the page. She turned it, and began to read. 


	10. Chapter Nine: The Seventh Hour: The Guar...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: **SHOOT!** I didn't mean to repost Chapter One!!!! I'm Sorrysorrysorry!!!!!!! aaaaaaargh! Thanks to **Kaze** and **Seeking Serenity** for letting me know I messed up. Hey, I'm only human . . .

Well, that stupid class I had to take over the weekend threw me off. And now I'm going out of town for the next three weeks. I'M SO SORRY! Maybe, if there's lots of reviews when I get back, I'll write some more!  
Read it, review it, and most importantly, enjoy it!   
thanks!  
~Teller

__

Poisoned Crystals: Chapter Nine

The Seventh Hour: The Guardians

"_Welcome to the Labyrinth_," Sarah read out loud quietly, wondering if the words were referring to the book or to the actual maze. "_Here your greatest dreams can be found, but things are not always what they seem. _

Take nothing for granted in the Labyrinth." Sarah blinked. Hadn't she heard the very echoes of these words during her first journey through the Labyrinth? She frowned and turned the page, then continued to read, silently this time. 

__

HISTORY

The Labyrinth has existed since the first dream. However, it never came in contact with the Aboveground until the first person wished away the first child, 50 years after The Labyrinth's creation. The child did become a Nightmare, and now resides on East Spear Way in the Goblin City. 

You may wonder, if the first Nightmare Goblin did not appear until 50 years after the creation, then who lived in the Labyrinth during those 50 years? There were two main races -- they opposed each other for the first few years, but soon learned to live together in grudging tolerance, if not quite acceptance. The first race ruled over the Labyrinth, and the second over the rest of the Underground, which is equally unpredictable and fantastic as the Labyrinth.

The first race was - and still is - the Goblins. The Goblins, originally, were humanoid. They elected one family to 'rule' over the others to avoid anarchy, and that same family's desendants rule still. The chosen family remained humanoid through the powerful magic that ran in their bloodline and is focused through crystals, but the others, who had no magic, slowly took on other forms - such as the dwarf, the gnome, the mandrake, and the ogre - all are vaguely humanoid still. The other races in the Labyrinth that are not humanoid in any way were created by the dreams of the people and children Aboveground, which is why they are so diverse in shape, size, and even color. The Nightmares -- the children turned into goblins after being wished away from Aboveground -- are sometimes responsible for the creation of the more unpleasant creatures, such as the Boogieman. A goblin psychologist who wishes to remain un-named determined that this is mainly because they are bitter for being wished away and jealous of the children who have not been wished away - therefore they try to make life as unpleasant as possible for the more well-loved humans, by giving them bad dreams -- therefore the name, "Nightmares." From these bad dreams come many of the things inhabiting the Labyrinth, including the Cleaners, and even the Bog of Eternal Stench, although the current Goblin King would like very much to pretend it was his creation.

Sarah laughed out loud. This was interesting reading. She could find out a lot about Jareth in this book, along with other things about the Labyrinth that would be useful to know in general. She closed the book and hefted it in her arms, wondering how she could possibly lug it around after her. She glanced around, looking for a bag or something to carry it in, but when she looked back at the book, it had shrunk so that it would fit comfortably into her back pocket. Grinning, she slipped it into her right pocket, next to the Skeleton Key. She looked around the library for one last time, then headed to the doors, which swung open to greet her. 

In the throne room, Jareth let out a huge breath in relief he had only been partially aware of holding. If Sarah had kept reading that book . . . but she had stopped, and just in time. Now he had to get it away from her . . .

It seemed to Sarah that whispers followed her up the winding stairway as she climbed slowly to the next door, her hand trailing along behind her on the banister. The next door she came to seemed to be made of solid gold, and had huge bolts along its edges. It looked very solid and forbidding, and some part of her quailed underneath it's stern glow. She edged towards it, and the whispers grew louder and more excited. She felt a thrill of surprise as invisible hands began to push her away from it and direct her back up the stairs. She allowed them to do so, dociley, but looked back at the door curiously as she continued up the stairs. 

_"Don't,"_ small voices cried to her, concerned, and so, trusting in them, allowed them to lead her up to the next door. 

This one was made of an iridescent silver, graceful and elegant, and an overwhelming sense of de ja vu swept over her. The whispers gave way to the familiar breeze that had led her to Hoggle pushed her towards it. She rested a hand, awed, on the silver handle, but it turned underneath her, and swung inwards, and Sarah followed the whispers inside. 

Jareth sat up straight. That room, that room Sarah had just walked in to, had been the one room in the entire Labyrinth that he had been denied access to. The fact that Sarah had been allowed into it only proved what he had suspected before. Sarah was more than she seemed, which explained more than she would ever understand . . . 

The silver doors swung shut behind her as the bells began to toll ten, and for a moment, darkness wrapped itself around Sarah. Then a silvery glow slowly lit the room, and Sarah's mouth fell open slightly in amazement. 

It was . . . like she was home. But that didn't make any sense . . . she was in the Labyrinth, in the Underground . . . but still . . . quiet giggles echoed around her, and she turned around curiously. 

"Who's there?" She asked, smiling slightly. These were the people who had helped her through the Library. Wouldn't they show themselves? "Please, let me see you," She said. The giggling slowed and died down, and several people flickered into existence in a circle around her. They were all beautiful women, six of them, with benevolent, smiling faces, all in simple but elegant silver gowns. Small silver moons were painted between their graceful eyebrows, and the image of a crescent moon pendant against bare skin flashed through her mind. She stared in wonder. "Who are you?" She asked in a whisper. They all smiled in unison, revealing perfect white teeth. 

"We," they said. "Are the Guardians."


	11. Chapter Ten: The Eigth Hour: Faery Tales

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi all - I'm so so sorry that this has taken so long to get out; I tried several times to upload it and it just didn't work. ::shrug:: I don't know why, but that's how it is . . . I hope not everyone has forgotten about it! ^^() Anyway, here it is, and hopefully more coming soon! Read it, review it, and, most importantly, enjoy it! 

Sincerely yours,

~Teller

__

Poisoned Crystals: Chapter Ten

The Eighth Hour: Faery Tales

Sarah blinked. "The Guardians?" She repeated.

Jareth's crystal exploded in his hands, sending shards of crystal flying across the throne room and making it impossible for him to see or hear what was going on in the room Sarah had disappeared into. He knew better than to try with another crystal; and so he cursed -- he had been doing a lot of that lately -- and disappeared.

Meanwhile . . . One of the six women, taller than the rest and with pale hair, skin, and light blue eyes, nodded. 

"Won't you sit down?" she offered, extending a hand. Sarah looked around, and a silver chair appeared behind her. She sat, and realized that the nervous, edgy feeling that had accompanied her since she had entered the Library had completely disappeared, and in its place was a comfortable, somehow familiar, calm. Six more chairs appeared, and the Guardians sat, smiling at Sarah. Apparently they were waiting for something, so Sarah spoke. 

"Ah . . . I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are," Sarah confessed. The tallest Guardian spoke again.

"I believe," she said, "that your book will tell you." A table that was made of the same silvery metal as the chairs appeared in front of her, and Sarah -- assuming they meant the book she had picked up earlier -- pulled it out of her back pocket and placed it on the table. It expanded to it's original size and fell open to the page where Sarah had stopped reading. With a final glance at the six other women, Sarah looked down and began again to read. 

__

The second race of the Underground was -- and is -- the Faery race, and it consists of seven subraces, which complicated things immensely. The seven subraces could not decide on a single ruling race, and so set up a council of sorts, each subrace sending one family to represent their kind. The seven subraces were -- and still are -- the nymph, the dryad, the nyad, the siren, the elf, the pixie, and the brownie. Eventually the council -- which became known as the Council of Seven -- agreed to divide the lands outside the Labyrinth into seven pieces, and each race could choose their own and settle and rule it peacefully. The two oceans went to the nyads and the sirens, respectively, the two forests went to the brownies and the dryads, the two mountain ranges went to the elves and the pixies, and the hilly, lightly forested plains around the Labyrinth went to the nymphs. Quickly, one subrace in particular came to power: they nymphs. They had no quarrel with any of the other subraces, but it was very true that the power of the Nymphian Royal Family easily equaled and possibly surpassed that of the Goblin Royal Line. 

With one thing and another, war between the two countries began. (See Chapter Six for further information.) The fact that they were bordering countries only escalated the enmity, and the other Faery subraces sided with the Nymphs, slightly outnumbering the Goblins. 

However, the Goblins were never a race to go down without a fight, and in the Battle of the Cauldron, the Goblin King (the current King's father) captured and held as prisoner the Nymphian King and his young daughter. Peace negotiations began, and after much strenuous conferring, the following truce was decided.

The Goblins and the Faerys were to put aside their differences and become allies. As the first step towards peaceful friendship between the two races, a bargain was struck.

The Goblin King had two sons, Jareth and Jerrold. Jerrold, the oldest, was the heir to the Goblin throne. It was decided that he would be sent to live in the Nymphian Kingdom, and in return the ruling family of each subrace would send their eldest child to live in the Goblin Kingdom until their turn to rule came about. Surprisingly, the eldest children in each Faery family were all girls. The princesses came to the Labyrinth at the age of sixteen months, at which time Jerrold was sixteen years of age and Jareth only six. 

However, peace was not to last. In a serious of horrific murders, the Goblin King and the Nymphian King were killed. At the same time, the eldest Goblin Prince and the Nymphian Princess who lived in the Labyrinth disappeared. At the time, the Princess was two years old and Jerrold was eighteen. Neither was ever found.

Jareth, when the time came, stepped forward and took his throne, but there was no second child to the Nymphian throne. As a result, when the Queen of the Nymphs died, the country dissolved into anarchy, and lies in a state of political rebellion even today.

The remaining six princesses still live in the Labyrinth, all at the age of sixteen. They have taken to calling themselves the Guardians, but what it is they guard, only they know."

Sarah looked up from the book. The Guardians were watching her expectantly.

"So, what is it?" she asked. "What do you guard?"

"Why, Jareth, of course," said a Guardian with wavy auburn hair who hadn't spoken before. "He's the last of his line. If anything happened to him, the entire Underground would erupt into a war over the Labyrinth."

"He's cruel, arrogant, sarcastic, and proud, but he's the one reason the Underground lies in semi-peaceful times," said another with dark brown hair, impossibly tan skin, and brilliant green eyes. Sarah couldn't help nodding in agreement to what she had said.

"So, you never found the seventh princess?" She asked curiously. The Guardians stared at her.

"Not . . . Until now," the first one finally said.

"Oh, you did find her?" Sarah asked excitedly.

"She really doesn't know," the green-eyed one whispered to another girl beside her.

"Know what?" Sarah asked.

"Sarah . . . The other princess . . . Is you," the first Guardian said finally.

In the distance, bells began to ring -- nine times. 

Sarah laughed, but it caught in her throat at the serious expressions of the young women around her. 

"You - you can't be serious," she said, somewhat desperately. The first girl nodded slowly.

"Oh, but we are . . ." she said. 

"But -- but I'm human -- I mean, mortal -- I was born in L.A. -- I can't be --" she stood up anxiously, twisting her hands together. The first girl rose as well, and crossed to her, putting a comforting hand on Sarah's arm. 

"We're not sure how, or why, but a spell was placed on you blocking your memories, abilities, and true identity. It was a spell of great power, but when you came to the Labyrinth for the first time, the spell began to wear off, or be broken in some way."

"Who would have placed this spell on me?" Sarah asked, half-refusing to believe what was being said. The Guardian shrugged.

"We don't know. We hope that the answer will reveal itself in time, but for now . . ." she shrugged. "We can't even begin to guess."

Sarah shook her head. "If this is true . . . Which it _isn't_," she said, falsely confident. "Then . . . Then . . What about my deal with Jareth?" 

"What about it?" The Guardian asked indifferently.

"I mean, is it still on? Or what?" 

The Guardian blinked. "Well, yes, I suppose," she said. "I mean, it's sort of pointless, because you'll be staying in the Underground anyway..."

"I will?" Sarah asked, half in panic, half in excitement. The Guardian paused, and it was clear she was choosing her words carefully before she spoke.

"I guess . . . You don't _have _to stay here . . . You could, conceivably, return to the Aboveground and live out a mortal life there…"

"No! No, she couldn't!" A girl, black-haired and blue-eyed, who had until this point remained silent cried, standing up indignantly. "She's the _Princess_! She has a duty to her people!"

"A people that I've never known?" Sarah said hotly. 

"Ciara, hush," the first Guardian said. "We're the only ones that know. No one would be the wiser if she just quietly returned to the Aboveground afterwards."

"Leaving her home country in political anarchy?" The outspoken Guardian demanded. 

"But is it really what you want?" A quiet voice asked. Everyone turned to look at the smallest Guardian, who had been watching silently until now. She took a deep, steadying breath, and met Sarah's eyes bravely. "I mean to say -- would you truly be happy with your old life, knowing there was a place for you here, where you truly fit in?" She paused, and Sarah looked at the ground. The Guardian continued, relentlessly. "Were you ever really happy Aboveground?" She asked. Silence met her question, and her words hung in the air. Sarah looked away.

"Shh," the first Guardian said, putting her hand on Sarah's shoulder. "It's her life; her decision. We will not pressure you any further." She shot a warning look at the indignant Guardian. Sarah looked around, as if suddenly waking up, and nodded.

"Yes -- Yes, I only have eight hours left to find Sir Didymus." She began to walk back to the double doors, the first Guardian escorting here there.

"You still have your decision to make," she said consolingly. "We'll talk after this gamble is settled." Sarah nodded, comforted by her words. The Guardian smiled, and the doors swung open to Sarah, who walked through them gratefully out onto the landing. The doors shut quietly behind her.

"She'll stay," one Guardian said confidently. "She has to."

"Jareth wouldn't hear of her leaving . . . Not after this bet . . ." another one said quietly.

"I'm not so sure," said the first Guardian thoughtfully, staring at the doors Sarah had just left. "Not so sure, at all . . ."


	12. Chapter Eleven: The Ninth Hour: Bob & Ro...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi again, and thanks to all the reviews in response of the last chapter. I did realize that I had uploaded the last chapter twice, but I'm too lazy to fix little things like that! ^^() Well, here's the next chapter, and although it's a bit short, the next one is coming soon, so no worries! 

à insert standard disclaimer here. ^^ Nothing about the Labyrinth belongs to me, except this plot, so please don't steal that!

Read it, review it, and, most importantly, enjoy it! 

Many thanks,

~Teller

Chapter Eleven: The Ninth Hour

"Bob & Rob"

"Hello, Sarah," Jareth said, standing up from the banister on which he had been leaning. Sarah jumped in fright, and Jareth grinned, taking another step towards her. Sarah shook her head irritably and ignored him, taking to the stairs. Jareth followed. For a while, neither of them said a word, and Sarah breezed by several uninteresting doors before finally turning to Jareth in frustration.

"What do you _want_?" She asked in pure exasperation. Jareth looked somewhat taken aback, and Sarah raised an eyebrow. Jareth, unnerved? Maybe she should listen to him . . .

"Well, I - I -" he hesitated, and Sarah's ameazement grew. What was going on? "What did the Guardians tell you?" He asked finally. Sarah snorted and turned back to the stairs.

"Why didn't you just listen in through your magic crystal ball?" Sarah asked mockingly.

"I couldn't," Jareth said, impatient and dry. "Their magic blocks me."

"So you _do_ have a worthy adversary," Sarah said. Jareth grabbed her wrist roughly, and she looked at him, frightened by both the strength in his grasp and the sudden anger in his eyes. 

"Sarah! Do not toy with me. _What did they tell you_?"

"None of your goddamned business," Sarah said angrily, jerking her hand away and shakily continuing. They had reached a long flight of stairs that spiraled upwards, with no doors in sight. Jareth could have screamed in frustration, and tried desperately to keep his cool.

"Very well," he said. "I'll just ask them."

"They won't tell you," Sarah said calmly. "Look," she said, turning around suddenly and talking to Jareth face-to-face. "Something is going on, and it's bigger than any of our stupid games and bets. I have some serious decisions to make, so I'm just gonna find Didymus and get this over with. When I'm done, depending on the choices I make, I _might_ tell you what they said."

"What if, bold Sarah, you loose?" Jareth asked, in the calculating voice she knew all too well.

"It'll make my life easier," she snapped, whirling around. Jareth watched her go for a bit, then sat down on the stairs, his head in his hands. Something shimmered beside him, and the first Guardian appeared next to him.

"She's the lost princess, you know," she said quietly.

"I know," Jareth said from behind his hands. "I know." 

***

Sarah climbed the stairs steadily. After what seemed like an eternity, she looked up ahead of her and saw what seemed to be the last curve of the stairs. With a sudden burst of energy, she hurried the last few flights to the top. 

"Alph and Ralph!" She exclaimed in surprise, The blue and red clad creatures looked up at her ins urprise.

"We're not Alph and Ralph," one of them said. "They're our cousins. We're Bob and Rob."

"Oh," sarah said, tilting her head. "And where do your doors lead?"

"One of our doors leads to certain death, and the other leads to the Oracle."

"The Oracle?" Sarah asked.

"And you should probably know that one of us always tells the truth, and one of us always lies."

Sarah sighed and leaned against the railing. Something poked her in the small of her back, and she reached back to feel the corner of the book sticking out of her back pocket. She smiled and sat down as the book expanded and fell open to a page she had not yet seen.

THE ORACLE

_The Oracle is a mystical object of power. It will answer a person one question every seven years. That is to say, everyone has the right to ask one question of the Oracle once every seven years of their life. Unfortunately, the Oracle is located in the Library, where any passerby save the Goblin King himself will be struck down upon entry. It is also behind the guards Bob and Rob, a tricky riddle only two beings have ever been known to solve. _

Sarah sighed and shut the book. She knew what question she should ask the Oracle, but how to get through? She hadn't seemed to get the answer right last time . . .

But maybe . . . Sarah suddenly grinned and stood up. 

"Answer this, yes or no," she said to the guard on the left. "Would he tell me that this door leads to the Oracle?" 

The red-clad creature ducked under his shield and exchanged hurried whispers with his companion. Finally, he looked back up at Sarah.

"Yes . . . ?" He said uncertainly. Sarah smiled slowly. {Just like the first time,} she thought.

"Then the other door leads to the Oracle, and this door leads to certain death."

Bob and Rob ooohed appreciatively. 

"But how do you know?" Bob asked. "He could be telling the truth!" 

"But then you wouldn't be," Sarah pointed out. "So if you told me that he said yes, I know that the answer is no."

"But I could be telling the truth!" he protested.

"Well then he would be lying, so if he said yes, I know the answer would still be no." 

"Uhh . . . Wait a minute." Bob squinted at Rob. "Is that right?" 

"I don't know," Rob said honestly. "I've never understood it!" 

The four guards laughed, and Rob and his partner stood aside from their door. Sarah opened it triumphantly. Yes, there was the Oubliette, but she could easily step over that. _Certain death,_ she thought to herself. _And being imprisoned is by no means certain death! _Grinning, she hopped over the hole and entered the Oracle's chamber. 

Somewhere very close, because the sound was loud, bells tolled. They rang eight times. She had seven hours left. _Plenty of time_, she reassured herself as her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room she stood in.


	13. Chapter Twelve: The Last Hours

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Moving right along . . . But I have a sneaking suspicion I'm about to slow down. Unless I get some wonderful reviews, of course! And thanks to everyone who lets me know about the mistakes that show up with this story. I've been having some computer troubles with ffnet recently, and the more you guys point out, the cleaner this will be. Thanks again to everyone who pointed something out! 

Read it, review it, and, most importantly, enjoy it.

Sincerely yours,

~Teller 

__

Poisoned Crystals: Chapter Twelve

The Last Hours

It was dark. Sarah took another step forward, and the darkness lifted like a curtain, revealing the finest room Sarah had seen thus far in the Labyrinth.

Themarble floors beneath her feet had veins of gold, silver, and mother-of-pearl winding through it. Fine silk curtains of white and gold tumbled to the ground from a cavernous ceiling painted to look like a night sky with a jeweled Aurora Borealis dancing through it. Ivory pillars towered up to the ceiling through the curtains, and the room was scattered all over with very comfortable-looking furniture of high quality.

"Ohh! A young girl!"

"Woo-woo-woo!" Two voices, the first ancient and scratchy, the second high pitched and energetic, interrupted Sarah's train of thought. She looked up to see the Wiseman and his hat, shuffling slowly towards her.

"_Y - You're _the Oracle?" Sarah asked in disbelief. The bird-hat let out a loud, high-pitched cackle.

"_Him? _The Oracle! Ha!" The Wiseman glared upwards.

"We, young woman, are the Oracle Wardens," the Wiseman managed in his labored speech. "We make sure no one tries to steal or mistreat the sacred object." Sarah couldn't help wondering how a decrepit old man and his talking hat would discourage anyone, but there was probably more to it then she could see.

"Well - may I see the Oracle?" she asked. The Wiseman didn't respond, but merely turned around and shuffled over to a corner of the brilliant room. Sarah, assuming he was taking her to the Oracle. Followed. The Wiseman slowly opened the door and gestured for her to enter, and as she walked by him, he spoke again.

"Choose your words wisely, child," he said. "Make sure you do not have the answer in your own heart." Sarah paused and searched his face.

"Thank you," she said sincerely. The Wiseman nodded, and she walked into the room, Wiseman shutting the door behind her. 

Again she was wrapped in darkness. 

"H - hello?" She stammered, stepping forward. The lights lifted slowly, still too dim for her to decipher the shape in front of her. She knelt, slowly, on the ground, folded her hands in her lap, and thought about what she wanted to ask. 

_Make sure the answer isn't in your heart _echoed in her thoughts, and Sarah frowned in concentration. She could find an answer to any question in her heart that didn't concern physical, superficial things like "Where are my car keys?" and "What should I wear?"

She needed no Oracle to make decisions about how she felt or what she wanted. All she had to do was look inside herself and she would know. The Oracle was good for smaller things, less important things. Sarah smiled, and raised her gaze, voicing her question to the figure draped in shadow before her.

***

She left the Oracle's Chamber minutes later, smiling brightly. 

"How did it go?" The bird-hat asked her, always chipper.

"Very well, thank you," Sarah answered, grinning.

"You made the right decision?" The bird asked. Sarah nodded.

"I did." She looked closely at the Wiseman and saw that he was fast asleep. She smiled slightly, and pulled a ring off her finger. 

"When he wakes, give him this." she said. "As a token of my thanks."

"thanks? For what?" Asked the bird. 

"For saving my life," Sarah responded, smiling over her shoulder at the bird as she left the room.

Bells rang six times as she hurried down the stairs, strangely silent, now. She fleetingly wondered where the Guardians were, but put it from her mind as she focused on the task in front of her. She practically flew down the stairs all the way to the bottom, cutting in quarters the amount of time it had taken her to climb to the top. She pushed through the double doors out of the library and ran down the long hallway back to the throne room. 

Jareth and the Guardian looked up, Startled, as Sarah ran through the room and out through another hallway.

"Where is she going?" the Guardian wondered, watching her leave. Jareth conjured up a crystal and handed it absentmindedly to the Guardian, his gaze fixed on Sarah's rapidly disappearing figure. When she was out of sight, he turned back to the crystal, which followed Sarah's path with every stride she took. 

***

Sarah flew through the Labyrinth, twisting, turning, left left left right left left left. She heard the bells ring once, twice, and by the time she reached the Bog she had only four hours left. The thirteenth hour!

She plugged her nose and took a deep breath of the semi-pure air as she stepped into the marshland carefully, her eyes searching for the way across. She knew her speed would slow down considerably in passing through the bog. But it would be time well-spent, caution was worthwhile and there was no way around the Bog. 

She picked her way carefully through the BOES, always searching for the quickest way across. 

Halfway through the thirteenth hour, her gaze landed on a path of stepping-stones - the stones Ludo had called to save her life when she hung precariously by a tree branch above the bog on her previous visit. She hurried the last few steps to the stones, and crossed them quickly. 

With fifteen minutes left in the thirteenth hour, she had found the exit from the Bog that she had taken _into_ the Bog at the beginning of the Seventeen hours. 

"Look, ancient one, it's her!" A familiar voice said from behind. Sarah turned and found the oak and willow she had awakened.

"Oh - hello," she said, smiling. 

"Any luck in your parley with the Goblin King?" The oak asked conversationally. Sarah nodded, smiling. 

"Yes, thank you," she said. "In fact, we're almost done. Then you all can go back to your forest - where is your forest, by the way?" She asked curiously.

"In the Nymph's Country, of course," said the oak. The willow swished in agreement. Sarah stared.

"The Nymph's Country?" She asked. The two trees bobbed their branches in affirmation. 

"In the Crystal Battle between the Faerys and the Goblins, the Walking Tree Division was the greatest asset of the Nymphian King's army. However, the Goblin King found a way to ensnare us with spells and the trees invading the Labyrinth were stopped still wherever they were. The last thing I remember is falling asleep right here, hoping on of the Nymphian Royal blood line would come along and free us sometime soon."

"The Royal bloodline?" Sarah asked in a strangled voice. The trees bobbed again. 

"That's why were were so grateful to you," the said, adding "your Highness," a few seconds afterward. Sarah shook her head. 

"The - the Guardians told me that - that I was - the lost princess, but I never really believed it," Sarah whispered, more to herself then the trees. 

"Well, of course you are," the oak said. "How else could you have woken us from our enchanted slumber? How else could you have defeated the Labyrinth?" Sarah shook her head, and bells rang, signaling the fourteenth hour, cutting short her confusion.

"I'm sorry, I only have two hours left - we'll continue this conversation later -" and without another word, she turned and left the trees to themselves, leaving the Bog hurriedly. 

***

Just as she had expected, she found herself in the very first corridor at the beginning of the Labyrinth. She found the gate and began running down the right side, feeling flashes of de ja vu at every step. She ran and ran, and finally stopped, looking at the left wall knee-level for a little blue worm.

"Hello? Hello? Mr. Worm?" She called.

" 'Allo," a little voice said from off to her right, very faint. Sarah looked around wildly. 

"Hello?"

"Down here," the voice said. Sarah took a few more steps down the hall, then a few more. She finally saw what looked like a tiny piece of blue fluff about a yard away. She hurried to it and knelt, breathing quickly. 

"Are you the worm?" she asked. 

The worm nodded.

"Step inside, have a cup of tea, meet the missus," he invited. Sarah grinned. 

"I would love to step inside," she said, moving forward.

Either she shrank, or everything else grew. Somehow, she found herself the same size as the worm - perfectly fit to go into his home. The worm led the way, and she followed.

It was a quaint little home place, with a tea kettle on the boil over the fireplace. The worm nodded to an armchair and Sarah sat down. 

At that moment, a fluffy red worm wiggled her way into the room. Her eyes widened at the sight of Sarah. 

"So you're here," she said bluntly. Sarah nodded. "I had a warning you'd be a-coming." She sighed and gestured with her head for Sarah to stand. "Come along, then." Sarah did as she was bidden and followed the lady worm out of the den and through another wooden door, into a bedroom. There was a trunk at the foot of the bed, and the worm opened it - Sarah didn't quite see how that was done - and nodded. 

"Near the bottom, you'll find what you're looking for," she said. Sarah blinked in confusion, and stepped forward to kneel at the trunk. Rummaging through old scarves and caps, she finally found the smooth wooden bottom of the trunk. She slid her hands along it, and was about to ask the lady worm something when she heard a faint click and then the grinding of stones. She looked over her shoulder, and saw what was apparently a secret passage out of the bedroom. She nodded her appreciation to the worm.

"Thank you, very much," Sarah said. The worm nodded in response and Sarah hurled herself down the tunnel. 

The dark passage twisted and wound in on itself again and again. Her breath became short and labored, and several times she almost ran into a wall. Once she did, and she paused to nurse a bruised knee, wishing ruefully that she had a light of some sort. She leaned against the damp stone wall to catch her breath, and in the echoes of her ragged breathing she heard the bells ringing again. She shook her head.

_Is it just me, or does time pass more quickly here?_ She wondered. Sighing, she picked up her feet and continued down the hall.

Not long afterwards, she found herself faced with a dead end. She waited patiently for a few minutes, and a wooden door slowly materialized in front of her. Smiling triumphantly, she pulled out her Skeleton Key and entered the room with marble cells. 

Remembering her first visit to this prison, she turned to her left and to the cell which held Sir Didymus. 

"Sir Didymus?" she asked. There was a rasping in response, then a cough and a feeble voice called out.

"My lady! You are returned!" Smiling to herself, Sarah tossed the key into the lock and threw the door open. 

"Sir Didymus!" She exclaimed, rushing forward to hug him. He was shackled to the wall, and she retrieved the Skeleton Key from the door and used it to unbind his paws. He returned her hug, and she was startled by how weak he seemed. "Are you all right?"

"I am infinitely better now, my lady," he responded diplomatically. "And will be even more so when I get my paws around the Goblin King's neck!" 

Sensing that her little friend was about to launch into one of his comical tirades, Sarah placed a finger on his snout. 

"Not now, Didymus," she said. "Come with me." Making sure she had the key and the book, she led him to the door she had entered and stepped through it. 

Surprisingly, they came out not in the tunnel, but in Jareth's throne room. 


	14. Chapter Thirteen: Taken By Surprise

AUTHOR'S NOTE: ::blinks in surprise at self:: Wow, I've been cranking it out today! ::Checks own pulse:: no, this is not the afterlife . . . Wow! 

Well guys, I'm tempted to leave it at this chapter. Read it and let me know what you think. I think there will at least be an Epilogue, but more than that or no? ::is deep in thought:: tell me your opinions!

Read it, review it, and, most importantly, enjoy it!

~Teller

__

Poisoned Crystals: Chapter Thirteen

Taken By Surprise

Jareth had started sulking as soon as he recognized where Sarah was going. The Guardian - whose name was Lirit - smacked him, not gently. 

"She's coming," she said sharply, and shimmered out of view. Jareth, concealing his sullen manner, sat down in his throne and draped his legs over one of it's arms, putting on his bored face just as Sarah and Didymus stepped into the throne room. He met her gaze, looking bored, and clapped lazily.

"Bravo, bravo . . ." he drawled, standing slowly and walking casually over to them. "You rescued your companions," he managed to sneer. "And in return I will return you to your precious Aboveground."

Something in Sarah suddenly quailed. She walked past Jareth to a window that overlooked the Labyrinth. Trancelike, she stared out past the Labyrinth at the lands surrounding it. For the most part, plains - hilly and somewhat forested - but in the distance she saw mountains and a glimmer that might have been the ocean. She sighed and sat down on the windowsill, surveying the landscape carefully. 

She frowned, many thoughts running through her mind. She was being ridiculous. What she was seeing had given her nothing but trouble and anxiety, and bad dreams. Why did she suddenly feel desperate not to leave it? 

__

You know that's not true, a quiet voice whispered in the back of her mind. _ The Labyrinth has given you many things - friends, adventure, love for your brother, and even - _Sarah looked up suddenly, and realized that Jareth had been watching her carefully. On the other hand, what had the Aboveground given her? She shifted uneasily, and she had to admit to herself that the answer was 'not much.' She put her head in her hands and thought, hard. 

She sensed several presences around her, and when she looked up, saw Hoggle and Ludo standing with Didymus nearby her. She grinned and stood, hugging them both with exclamations of joy.

"Hoggle! Ludo!" She cried. "It's good to see you!" She said. "Are you all right?" 

"Sarah," Ludo rumbled contentedly, hugging her back. Hoggle's hug was shy; he still was uncertain of their friendship, which to Sarah only endeared him even more. 

"I've been better," he scowled, looking at the Goblin King. Jareth rolled his eyes. "It's good to see you, Sarah." Hoggle said timidly. Sarah smiled. 

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," Sarah said. "It was my fault you were ever brought into this in the first place." Didymus snorted. 

"I find that hard to believe, my fair Lady," he said indignantly. "Did I see you at any point during my ambush and kidnap? No, while this unworthy -" he gestured angrily at Jareth. "Locked me into my cell his very own self, with the key about his neck!" He clearly was about to continue, so Sarah tried to change the subject. 

"Oh yes, the key," she said, reaching into her back pocket. She pulled it out and walked over to Jareth, who was standing aside and watching quietly. Quietly? Sarah thought to herself. That's a change. Although he has been changing lately . . . She frowned, perplexed, as she recalled their half-conversation on the stairs after she left the Guardian's chambers. Something had been bothering Jareth . . . Deciding to think about it later, she extended her hand to the Goblin King.

"Thank you," she said quietly. The King looked from the king to Sarah's earnest face and rose an eyebrow. Suddenly, the memory of actually taking the key from him rushed to Sarah's mind, and she blushed a brilliant crimson. She clenched her jaw, refusing to let him get to her. 

"Do you think, that after taking it from me like that, that I will accept it back with such little ado?" he demanded. He actually sounded furious. Sarah blinked in surprise and looked over her shoulder at her friends - they had gone. 

"Where did they go?" she asked, still holding the key.

"I have had them escorted back to their homes," Jareth said, waving a hand impatiently. "They are safe and sound, and will be forever thanks to our wager." 

"That you _lost_," Sarah reminded him triumphantly. Jareth's gaze was indecipherable.

"Ironically, Sarah my sweet, you would never have won if it wasn't for me," he said softly, brushing past her to stand at the window she had recently vacated. Sarah watched him, surprised.

"Wh - what?" she asked. Jareth ignored her, and Sarah shook her head. She took a hesitant step towards him, and realized that she was still holding the key. "Here's your key," she said impatiently. Jareth looked up, then stood and walked over to her, raising his eyebrows expectantly as he bowed his head slightly.

_He expects me to put it around his neck . . . _Sarah thought vaguely, surprised. Frowning slightly, She extended her hands and pulled the chain over his neck.

***

The suddenness of it left Sarah shocked and completely breathless. When her hands were fumbling with the clasp at the back of his neck, he had straightened suddenly and turned to the wall, bracing his weight there on his hands and leaning in towards Sarah, who realized with a flush of embarrassment that her hands were still wrapped around his neck. 

Before she had fully registered what was happening, he was kissing her.

The first kiss had been amazing, but this one left it far behind. Not so explosive as the first, but instead quietly thrilling through her body with a golden heat so immense that Sarah thought would burn her to death if she let go of Jareth. Pearly mist seemed to rise around them, and as she closed her eyes and allowed herself to sink into the kiss, she realized that the mist had cleared her vision of everything but Jareth. This time it was he who deepened their embrace, his hands drifting from the stone wall behind her to wrap around her, as if he was afraid she would disappear if he didn't hold her tightly.

For some reason, in the middle of their kiss, Sarah found herself thinking, _I am Sarah Williams. I am a junior in High School._

But even as she thought that, she felt that identity drifting away, and she had never felt freer.

They pulled away slowly, and Sarah blinked stars from her eyes as she looked at Jareth with slight confusion. He cleared his throat.

"How does it feel to be taken by surprise?" He asked, his voice husky and accusing. Sarah blinked, startled, then suddenly laughed. 

"Are you still so sure she'll leave?" A Guardian whispered to Lirit. 

Lirit looked away from the embracing couple, her eyes laughing. She smiled at her comrade. 

"Jareth _really_ wouldn't hear of her leaving now," another giggled from behind them.

"I think," Lirit said, still smiling, "That we can be sure of many things now." 

***

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, what do you guys think? Think this should be the end?


	15. Chapter Fourteen: Welcome Home

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here's the epilogue, enjoy it! I've decided to finish this story with this last chapter, then complete all the other stories I have in the making - mainly Flee, Fly, Floo, and Rising of the Elements. I'm also working on a revision of Sailors of the Elements . . . We'll see how that goes. ^^() When I'm finished with all that, this will be the first thing I'll come back to, and I already have a few ideas for a sequel or two to this . . . 

Read it, review it, and, most importantly, enjoy it! 

~Teller

__

Poisoned Crystals: Epilogue

"Welcome Home"

Sarah fumbled nervously with her necklace, hands trembling as she tried to fasten the clasp around her neck. Cool hands took the jewelry from her grasp, and she smiled gratefully up at Lirit.

"Thank you," she said earnestly. "I'm so nervous my hands are shaking!" 

The Guardian smiled and kissed Sarah on her forehead. "Don't worry, dear, you'll be fine! And you look marvelous." She gestured to Sarah's reflection in the mirror. "Looking good always helps give a girl confidence." 

Sarah nodded in agreement and sighed as she tugged at her skirts, looking impatiently at her reflection. She was clothed in what was apparently the dress of the Royal Nymphian family, and Sarah had to admit that there was some vague familiarity to it. 

A long gown, pearly silver in color, swept down to the cobblestone floor beneath her silver-slipper clad feet, trailing behind her for almost a yard. All the Guardians wore silver (or gray) and white; their dress varied only in cut. Sarah's dress was very form fitting and low cut in the front, scooping down in a broad, elegant V. It was gracefully high waisted, with alternating layers of silver and white silk whispering softly down to the floor. The sleeves of the gown were silver to the elbows, where they split and fanned down to her knees. "Won't they get caught on things?" She grumbled as the Guardians dressed her. Her hair fell in glossy, chestnut curls down her back and was hung with silver and white ribbons and sparkled with jewels. Silver and diamonds adorned her every extremity, and the silver half moon sign of the Guardians was painted between her eyebrows. Sarah sighed heavily, nervousness still weighing in her heart. 

She was about to make her first appearance in her home country. There was a lull in the civil war sweeping the Nympian lands due to several seasons of weak crops, and the Council of Seven had been called in the capital of her country. She was to join the Council - with Jareth and Lirit at her side, thankfully. Depending on how the conference went, she may also make her first appearance to the public. 

Her thoughts were interrupted as Lirit hugged her impulsively about the shoulders. "Don't worry!" She commanded, meeting Sarah's blue-gray eyes with her own startlingly silver ones. "Your country has been waiting almost a quarter of a century for your return!" Sarah smiled, nodding and forcing her anxiety out of her system. Lirit took Sarah by the hand and led her out of the Guardian's Chambers and into the Library. Sarah shook her head, de ja vu sweeping over her as they walked down the stairs and to Jareth's throne room. 

Jareth was waiting for them, as impatient as ever. His gaze softened slightly as it landed on Sarah, something that she found both slightly uncomfortable and thrilling. He had been increasingly kinder and gentler towards Sarah since she had decided to stay in the Labyrinth, and Sarah couldn't help wondering at the strangeness of it. He had even offered to help her learn how to harness her powers, along with the instruction of her fellow Guardians. He extended his arm, and Sarah took it, glad for the reassurance of his strength. Lirit walked on Sarah's other side, and the remaining Guardians fell into place behind the three. Jareth nodded, and in a dazzling flash of light, the entire group disappeared. 

***

The voice that spoke would have reminded thoughtful listeners of a void; a vacuum, empty and dark. No emotion laced it: not happiness or joy or ecstasy, neither anger, greed, jealousy, or even hatred. But there were no listeners, thoughtful or otherwise. 

"The plan has been set into motion, then?"

"Yes, my Lord. It is inconceivable that it should fail."

The sound of a harsh blow resonated through the darkened chamber, followed by the clatter of metal on stone, possibly the fall of a wine goblet - or a knife. The second speaker quailed in fear and pain, and sucked in his breath. If his master heard his cries, it would only lead to further punishment and ridicule.

"Fool. Failure is always conceivable."

"Yes, my Lord." 

***

Sarah waited, pacing, outside the Council Chamber. The remaining six monarchs were already meeting within the huge double doors made of marble and platinum, but Jareth had bade Sarah to wait for her summons by the herald.

Inside the double doors, the Council was in somewhat of an uproar. First, the appearance of the Goblin King, who was not by any means a welcome guest to the Seven. His arrival was shortly followed by that of the six Guardians, none of whom had been initiated into the council yet and would not need to be for several millenia, due to the long life-span of the Faerie races. Now the seven of the un-invited guests waited patiently for the monarchs to stop their shouting and allow them to give their explanations. 

They waited until silence reigned again in the Chamber, and Lirit stepped forward, bowing first to her parents on the council and then to the other royal families, greeting them with the formalities required of the various courts. 

"I realize that our presence here is a bit unorthodox," she said after the proper introductions. "But we would not interrupt this Council without good reason." She strode to the center of the chamber, standing with her hands clasped behind her back, walking in small circles as she spoke. 

"Since the disappearance of the last Nymphian princess and the death of her father, the king, almost a quarter of a century ago, the Faerie lands have been existing in complete chaos. This country was the center of all our operations, all our planning and building. When it's monarchy was destroyed and it dissolved into civil war, we were forced to shift the balance of power equally among the six remaining monarchies. Although we have learned many lessons in how the balance of equality should be set, any one of us can tally the price of the fall of the Nymphs. It cost each country a fortune not only in material values but also in lives. How many of you have wished so many times for the restoration of the Nymphain throne? How many search parties have been sent, and how many more lives have we lost in the attempts?" Silence greeted her speech. That was what Lirit had intended, and now she spread her arms wide, a broad smile crossing her face. "We have interrupted this broken council to inform you that it has been restored. Please, your Highnesses, welcome the return of the Lost Princess." 

The double doors creaked and swung open, and the twelve rulers swiveled to look with wide eyes as the meaning of Lirit's words slowly sank in. 

Sarah stood, outlined in the light of the setting sun, in the exact center of the threshold. She took a deep, steadying breath, and strode as confidently as possible into the chamber. When passed Jareth and the five Guardians by the door, they sank into low bows, which startled her. She reached the center of the chamber, and Lirit also bowed deeply. Sarah looked at the kings and queens around her and curtsied as gracefully and as deeply as she could, and did not rise from her bent position until she heard the rustling of fabric and saw out of the corner of her eye the rest of the nobles bowing to her in return. She straightened, and met the gaze of each ruler individually. One of them, an aging man, practically tripped out of his chair while hurrying towards her. He shook her hand vigorously, and Sarah was astounded to see tears in his eyes as he smiled upon her face.

"Welcome back, Princess," he said in a choked voice. "Welcome home."

__

~~A beginning?~~


End file.
